Australian Open: Sabalenka Beats Pavlyuchenkova, Badosa Stuns Gauff to Reach Semifinal | Read

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.

In another match, Spain’s Paula Badosa stunned error-prone third seed Coco Gauff 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinal of the Australian Open on Tuesday to reach the last four at a Grand Slam for the first time.

It was a thoroughly deserved victory for Badosa on a sunbathed Rod Laver Arena as she set up a meeting with double defending champion Aryna Sabalenka or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Gauff’s bid to reach her fifth Grand Slam semifinal, and second in a row at Melbourne Park, foundered on her fragile serve and no fewer than 28 unforced errors on her forehand.

Badosa showed her intentions early on in a tight first set by attacking the 20-year-old’s forehand to grab a couple of break points in the third game.

Gauff saved both but Badosa came back at her in the 11th game, earning a third break point with a backhand volley and converting it with a huge cross-court winner off the forehand.

The American fought hard to get back on serve but two wild shots helped Badosa to a set point and she converted it when the third seed went long with a forehand.

Badosa kept up the pressure in the 14-minute opening game of the second set as Gauff’s serve started to creak and the 27-year-old converted her fifth break point to edge ahead.

Former U.S. Open champion Gauff had yet to carve out a single break point and that continued as Badosa held to consolidate her advantage at 2-0.

Gauff had fought back from a set down to win her last two meetings with Badosa and upped her intensity to break back for 2-2.

A fifth double fault of the match let Badosa back into the next game, though, and a couple of forehand winners gave the Spaniard a third break of the contest, while another in game seven blew the lead out to 5-2.

Badosa knew she was on the brink of moving into uncharted waters in her career and Gauff exploited her nerves to break back again but the Spanish number one made no mistake when serving for the match at the second attempt.