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Sabalenka has now won 19 matches in a row at
Melbourne Park and will face her good friend, No. 11 seed Paula
Badosa, in the semifinals Thursday.
Sabalenka had run her set streak to 25 at the place — dating all
the way to the 2023 final — when she grabbed the opener against
2021 French Open runner-up Pavlyuchenkova.
But she had a hard time harnessing her intimidating strokes on a
windy evening in Rod Laver Arena until doing so down the stretch
and collecting the last three games after the third set was tied
at 3-all.
“Honestly,” Sabalenka said, “I was just praying.”
She won her first major championship at Melbourne Park in 2023,
then added another last January, before raising her total to
three Grand Slam trophies at the U.S. Open last September.
The last woman to win the Australian Open three straight years
was Martina Hingis from 1997 to 1999.
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