Alcaraz shines, Sabalenka beats the heat to make Australian Open semi-finals

MELBOURNE, Jan 27 : Carlos Alcaraz sizzled under the bright lights at the Australian Open and blazed into the semi-finals on Tuesday after fellow top seed Aryna Sabalenka remained cool in the unforgiving Melbourne heat to stay on course for another title.

Alexander Zverev was briefly made to sweat under the roof of Rod Laver Arena before overcoming Learner Tien, but a frustrated Coco Gauff unravelled in a racket-smashing meltdown following a stunning defeat by the resurgent Elina Svitolina.

That preceded Alcaraz's dominant 7-5 6-2 6-1 victory over Alex de Minaur on the main showcourt, as the Spaniard dashed his sixth-seeded opponent's hopes of ending a five-decade Australian wait for a homegrown men's champion.

The 22-year-old - a six-times major winner - is seeking his own piece of history at Melbourne Park, where he can eclipse Don Budge and become the youngest man to lift all four Grand Slam trophies.

"It was a great match in terms of level, in terms of the intensity. I played the best match so far in the tournament," Alcaraz told reporters.

"This is my first official tournament of the year and sometimes I'm not that patient. In the first match I really wanted to play at my best level. This is almost impossible. You have to get the rhythm of the competition again."

Sabalenka, chasing her third title in four years, also got into a high gear for a dominant 6-3 6-0 win over 18-year-old Iva Jovic on a sweltering Centre Court, where the roof was open with the "Heat Stress Scale" not at its highest threshold.

Shortly after her victory, though, tournament organisers invoked the extreme heat policy as temperatures crossed the 40 Celsius (104F) mark, prompting the suspension of play on the outer courts and the closure of roofs on the