Aryna Sabalenka survived a stern test from Linda Noskova on Tuesday, pulling out a 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 (10-7) win to reach the U.S. Open semifinals and keep her title defense alive. The victory also preserved her slim chance of staying No. 1 in women's tennis.
Sabalenka will face either Jessica Pegula or Emma Navarro on Thursday, with another win moving her one step closer to a third straight U.S. Open title. For Noskova, the loss ended a run that had taken the No. 6 seed deep into the tournament and left Sabalenka exactly where she needed to be: still standing in New York, still controlling her own path.
The match turned into the kind of grinder that tests a champion's nerve more than her shot-making. Noskova finished with 46 winners to Sabalenka's 42 and fired 18 aces to 12, but Sabalenka never dropped a set before this quarterfinal and kept finding a way when the margins narrowed. In the deciding tiebreaker, she fell behind 2-0, then moved ahead for good when Noskova double-faulted to make it 4-3.
Sabalenka said she was pushing herself to the limit in the third set, and the way she finished matched that description. She closed it with a second-serve ace, a final point that summed up a match in which she had to recover from a break deficit and stare down a player serving with real aggression.
There was also the ranking thread running through the result. Sabalenka needed the win to keep any hope of holding on to No. 1, a prize that now depends on how far she goes from here and how the rest of the field breaks around her. She has reached the semifinals in Flushing Meadows for the sixth straight year, and she also avoided her first loss at the U.S. Open since Coco Gauff beat her in the 2023 final.
That combination of survival and pressure is what makes the next match matter so much. Sabalenka is still alive for the title, still alive for the top ranking, and now one win away from turning a tight Tuesday into the kind of run that can define a championship.
