Key events
Tumaini Carayol
By the second set of Aryna Sabalenka’s 13th consecutive grand slam quarter-final, it was quickly becoming clear that the best tennis player in the world had reached flow state and she could do anything she wanted with the ball. Up 2-0 and mercilessly hunting a double break, Sabalenka swept forward to the net and executed a sickly sweet forehand half-volley winner that would have satisfied even the legendary volleyers of yesteryear.
There was once a time when a great performance from Sabalenka meant the Belarusian pummelling every ball, aiming for every line and praying that her shots would happen to land in. She has worked herself into such a well-rounded player today, who suffocates her opponents through the completeness of her game and has so many options at her disposal. Despite a valiant effort from her young opponent to simply prolong their high-quality opening set, Sabalenka bulldozed Jovic 6-3, 6-0 to continue her run through the draw.
Sabalenka’s victory means the extension of what is becoming one of the great grand slam records of this century. She has now reached the semi-finals in 12 of her last 13 majors, the one anomaly being her grim experience at the French Open in 2024 where she was desperately struggling with food poisoning during her quarter-final loss to Mirra Andreeva. Even then, she only narrowly fell, losing in three tight sets.
“When I’m in the tournament, I’m not thinking about that, but sometimes we all stop for a second and we think the level we were able to reach, it sounds really incredible and tough to believe,” Sabalenka said. “For sure, sometimes I just think that it’s unbelievable what I was able to achieve.”
This scoreline does not reflect Jovic’s admirable fight. The youngest player inside the top 150, Jovic has enjoyed an incredible breakthrough tournament in Melbourne, reaching her first grand slam quarter-final, beating her first top 20 opponent in the No 7 seed Jasmine Paolini and achieving a result that will place her inside the top 20, all at 18 years old.
Aryna Sabalenka awaits the winner of Gauff v Svitolina. The title hunting, teen hunting Sabalenka said her mentality is “trophy or nothing” after the 2023 and 2024 champion ruthlessly ended the run of the 18-year-old American Iva Jovic 6-3, 6-0 earlier – having also taken out the 19-year-old Victoria Mboko in the last 16. It extends her winning streak at the start of 2026 to 10 matches and 20 consecutive sets and she’s only the third woman to reach eight successive slam semi-finals in the past 38 years, after Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis. It’s surprising that the likes of Serena and Graff aren’t in that company.
Preamble
G’day and welcome to the 42C furnace that is the Australian Open – day 10 night session!
If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, has anything changed for Alex de Minaur as he heads into his seventh grand slam quarter-final with a 0-6 record, plus a 0-5 head-to-head against Carlos Alcaraz?
Well, yes, a few things have. Australia’s main man is at a career-high world ranking of No 6 and he’s playing arguably the best and most aggressive tennis we’ve ever seen from him, having added a bit more punch to a game that was already packed with formidable foot speed and fight.
“I got tired of the narrative big hitters can take the racket out of my hands,” De Minaur said after destroying Alexander Bublik in the last 16. “I’ve been constantly wanting to get to, when I’m playing big hitters, not be a punching bag, and show I can go toe-to-toe with them and dictate. The last couple of matches is some of the best ball striking I’ve had.”
But … Alcaraz still boasts more power than De Minaur. But … Alcaraz hasn’t stood still either and is raising the bar in men’s tennis to astonishing levels, along with Jannik Sinner, slam by slam. But … Alcaraz is only three match wins from becoming the youngest man to complete a career slam. But, but, but; there so are many of them.
To put it another way, De Minaur probably has about a 25% chance of beating the world No 1. But – and perhaps this is the biggest but of all in the Australian’s eyes – as long as there is a chance, De Minaur will believe he can do it, and will leave absolutely everything out there, as he has his entire career.
For Svitolina it’s a similar story. The Ukrainian is a supreme athlete with a huge heart who’s attempting to break new ground having reached 13 previous major quarter-finals and three semis without taking the next step. At 31, she’s a whole decade older than her opponent Coco Gauff, the reigning French Open champion, but she’s playing some of the tennis of her life and will be determined not to let this opportunity pass her by.
Gauff and Svitolina will be on court: at about 7pm Melbourne time/8am GMT, with Alcaraz v De Minaur to follow. Don’t go anywhere!
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