MELBOURNE, Australia — Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka reached the Australian Open semifinals on Tuesday, beating 18-year-old American Iva Jovic 6-3, 6-0.
Sabalenka, who is trying to win her third Australian title in four years, jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set and established early dominance against 29th-seeded Jovic. But Jovic held on to the set and had three break opportunities in the ninth game, which lasted 10 minutes.
Sabalenka broke serve twice in the second set to take a 5-0 lead and sap the young American’s momentum. Towards the end of the game, Jovic failed to save himself and made a double fault on the break point, giving Sabalenka a 5-0 lead.
In the last game, Sabalenka hit an ace on the break point and another ace on the match point to seal the victory. She saved all five break points she faced and had seven aces.
Sabalenka won the title in 2023 and 2024, finishing runner-up to Madison Keys a year ago. Keys was eliminated from the tournament on Monday by fellow American Jessica Pegula.
The match at Rod Laver Arena started with the roof open as Melbourne issued a heat warning with temperatures expected to exceed 40C.
Jovich was born in California, the daughter of parents who immigrated to the United States. The daughter of a Serbian father and a Croatian mother, Jovic has been taking cues from Serbian star Novak Djokovic.
Then third seed Alexander Zverev faced American learner Tian in the quarter-finals at Rod Laver Arena.
Top seed Carlos Alcaraz takes on Alex De Minaur in the evening quarter-finals at Rod Laver Arena. Alcaraz has won six Grand Slam titles but has never won the Australian Open and has lost in the quarterfinals each of the past two years.
Also in the evening’s quarterfinals, third seed Coco Gauff takes on Elina Svitolina. Sabalenka will face the winner of that match in the semifinals.
