Aryna Sabalenka battles into semi-finals in bid for first French Open crown

World number one Aryna Sabalenka remains on course for a maiden French Open title after battling past Qinwen Zheng to reach the semi-finals.

Sabalenka, looking to add a Roland Garros to her two Australian and one US Open crowns, won a hard-fought, near two-hour contest 7-6 (3) 6-3.

Zheng, the eighth seed from China, was the last woman to win a title here having claimed Olympic gold in August.

She went a break up in the first set and gave Sabalenka her biggest test of the tournament so far, but was unable to prevent her from making the last four for the second time in three years.

That semis feeling