Aryna Sabalenka advances to 2026 Australian Open semifinals

MELBOURNE, Australia — Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka beat 18-year-old American Iva Jovic 6-3, 6-0 on Tuesday to reach the semifinals at the heat-affected Australian Open.

The match at Rod Laver Arena — the first of the four quarterfinals scheduled on Day 10 — began with the roof open despite predictions of the temperature peaking at 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius) in Melbourne. The roof stayed open for that match but was closed for the following men’s quarterfinal between Alexander Zverev and American Learner Tien.

“I guess, yeah, as a woman, we are stronger than the guys,” Sabalenka said her later news conference, laughing. “So they had to close the roof for the guys so they don’t suffer!”

Play was suspended on outside courts all afternoon.

Sabalenka, who is trying to win her third Australian Open title in four years, went up 3-0 in the first set and established her dominance early against the 29th-seeded Jovic. But Jovic stayed in the set and had three break point chances in the ninth game, which lasted 10 minutes.

Sabalenka raced to a 5-0 lead in the second set with two breaks, taking any momentum away from the young American. Jovic didn’t help herself near the end of the match, double-faulting on break point to give Sabalenka her 5-0 lead.

In the last game, Sabalenka served an ace on break point and clinched it with another ace on match point. She saved all five break points she faced.

It gave her back-to-back wins over up-and-coming teenagers following her fourth-round victory over 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko.

“These teenagers have tested me in the last couple of rounds — incredible player,” Sabalenka said of Jovic in an on-court interview.

“It was a tough match,” Sabalenka added. “Don’t look at the score. She played incredible tennis and she pushed me to a one-step better level. It was a battle.”

Sabalenka won in 2023 and 2024 and was the runner-up a year ago to Madison Keys. Keys was knocked out of the tournament on Monday by fellow American Jessica Pegula.

Sabalenka awaits the winner of the Tuesday evening quarterfinal between third-seeded Coco Gauff and Elina Svitolina.

Jovic was born in California and is the daughter of parents who immigrated to the United States. Her father is Serbian and Jovic, naturally, has sought some tips from no other than Novak Djokovic.

“Hopefully throughout the year I can keep having more moments with him because it’s been amazing,” Jovic said of the Serbian player who has won 24 Grand Slam singles titles, 10 of them at the Australian Open.

Jovic revealed her conversations with Djokovic earlier in the tournament. Djokovic confirmed he gave the young American some feedback, saying he was happy to help a player with Serbian heritage.

The 38-year-old Djokovic has stayed in touch.

“Yes, he did text me with some more tips throughout the rounds. I don’t even know what day it is anymore!” Jovic said. “So we’ve been in communication, and I feel like we’ve built a little bit of a relationship now, which is amazing, and I wish him all the best for the rest of the tournament.”

It was Jovic’s first appearance in a Grand Slam quarterfinal, but she seemed poised from the start.

“I think that I kind of went into the match obviously not knowing too much about how it was going to look like in person, having not really hit with her in the past,” Jovic said. “Our first meeting as well.”

“I kind of tried to just bring that middle ground, and I think I have to be able to adapt to the game and what’s necessary for different play styles. I wasn’t able to do that” against Sabalenka.

But she plans to have more opportunities in the future.

‘It’s the quarterfinals but, you know, ultimately I hope to be in many quarterfinals,” she said. “So I don’t think this win or loss today is going to make or break my career.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.