MELBOURNE, Australia – Top seed Aryna Sabalenka defeated 18-year-old American Iva Jovic 6-3, 6-0 on Tuesday to reach the semifinals at the heat-hit Australian Open.
The match at Rod Laver started with the roof open as Melbourne hit heat warnings with temperatures expected to be above 104 Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). The roof remained open for that match but was closed for the subsequent men’s quarterfinal between Alexander Zverev and American apprentice Tien.
Sabalenka, who is trying to win her third Australian Open title in four years, went 3-0 ahead in the first set and established her dominance early against 29th seed Jovic. But Jovic stayed in the set and had three break point chances in the ninth game, which lasted 10 minutes.
Sabalenka raced to a 5-0 lead in the second set with two breaks, taking away any momentum from the young American. Jovic couldn’t help himself towards the end of the match and made a double fault on break point, giving Sabalenka her 5-0 lead.
In the final game, Sabalenka served an ace on break point and took it with another ace on match point. She saved all five break points she faced and had seven aces.
Sabalenka defeated 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko and reached the match against another teenager.
“These teenagers have tested me in the last few rounds: an incredible player,” Sabalenka said of Jovic in an on-court interview.
“It was a tough match,” Sabalenka added. “Don’t look at the score, it wasn’t easy at all. She played incredible tennis and she pushed me to the next level. It was a battle.”
Sabalenka won in 2023 and 2024 and was runner-up to Madison Keys a year ago. Keys was eliminated on Monday by compatriot Jessica Pegula.
Jovic was born in California and is the daughter of parents who emigrated to the United States. Her father is Serbian and her mother Croatian and Jovic gets tips from Serbian star Novak Djokovic.
Sabalenka awaits the winner of Tuesday night’s quarterfinal between third-seeded Coco Gauff and Elina Svitolina.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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