Ruthless Aryna Sabalenka eases into US Open semi-final with convincing win over Karolina Pliskova

Aryna Sabalenka produced a convincing display to ease into the US Open semi-final with a straight sets victory over Karolina Pliskova. The sixth seed has struggled for consistency in New York, but she was back to her brilliant best to sweep aside Pliskova, who simply had no answer to the Belarusian’s venomous serve and blistering backhand, particularly in the first set.

Ad After a couple of her earlier matches went the distance, it was clear that Sabalenka was in no mood to waste time in the quarter-final on Arthur Ashe Stadium, emerging the winner 6-1 7-6(5) WTA TorontoGauff books Halep showdown after winning longest match of her career in Toronto11/08/2022 AT 20:11 A double break gave Sabalenka an early cushion, and she closed out the set with ease, winning 6-1 having rattled 10 winners in a one-sided 28-minute opener. Pliskova managed to find a way of reducing her unforced error count, which gave way to a trickier second set for Sabalenka.

The Czech wasn’t going away easily, and she managed to withstand Sabalenka’s pressure, holding her serve to take it to a deserved tie-break. However, Sabalenka’s quality eventually shone through.

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