Aryna Sabalenka Dodges Big Upset To Stay Alive At Australian Open
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Aryna Sabalenka needed to use every trick in her book to beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarter-finals of the 2025 Australian Open.
Prior to this match, Sabalenka was barely challenged by any of her opponents in Melbourne. She beat Sloane Stephens, Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, and Clara Tauson in the first three rounds. Then, the Belarusian had no issues against 17-year-old prodigy Mirra Andreeva.
Pavlyuchenkova, on the other hand, bested Yue Yuan, Anastasia Potapova, Laura Siegemund, and Donna Vekic to reach this stage of the tournament.
In the first quarter-final match, Coco Gauff was stunned by Paula Badosa, and Pavlyuchenkova wanted to cause a similar upset in this match. She beat Sabalenka in two of their three meetings, so she certainly knew how to beat her.
But the early stages of this match were completely controlled by the WTA World No. 1 player. She used her opponent's mistakes to her advantage, and after adding a few winners, Sabalenka led 3-1 in the first set.
Her break came after Pavlyuchenkova hit a double fault and then made an unforced error to give her opponent a 30-15 lead despite starting the fourth game of the set with an ace. Sabalenka then hit two ruthless winners, which gave her the one-break lead.
She then had to fight for her next service game, as Pavlyuchenkova started hitting winners as well. But a timely ace helped the top seed when she needed it, and she led already 4-1 in the opening set.
The Russian player then won the following game, and when Sabalenka was serving at 4-2, she got herself into unnecessary trouble. After leading 30-0, she hit two consecutive double faults, and at 30-30, her opponent was close to a break point.
But the two-time defending champion hit two forehand winners to win the game. Her opponent then made the same mistake, as she hit two double faults to start the next game, and that was enough for Sabalenka to win the first set 6-2.
Pavlyuchenkova was not happy after losing the first set in 31 minutes, as she knew that she was capable of beating the Belarusian. She was determined to change how the match was going, and she succeeded.
In the second set, Pavlyuchenkova returned almost every ball to the other side of the court, and she managed to break Sabalenka's serve to lead 2-1. She was then able to break again and led already 4-1.
But the Russian then played a bad game in which she committed multiple unforced errors, and that gave Sabalenka a chance to fight for the second set, as she reduced the deficit to 2-4.
But Pavlyuchenkova quickly stopped that comeback, winning the last two games of the second set to win it 6-2, becoming the first player to win a set against Sabalenka at this year's Australian Open.
The third set had to decide, and Pavlyuchenkova gave herself multiple chances to win it. She led by a break twice, but every time, Sabalenka was able to immediately break back, so after four games and four breaks, the scoreboard showed 2-2.
The World No. 1 player then improved on her serve, and she was the better player in the remainder of the set to win the match 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, setting up a semi-final meeting with her good friend Paula Badosa.
