First since Serena! Aryna Sabalenka matches elite record with quarter-final win at US Open 2026
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Aryna Sabalenka defeated Linda Noskova in the quarter-finals
Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus needed every bit of that fight to get past Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova, the newly crowned Wimbledon champion, in a three-set quarter-final war at the ongoing US Open that swung one way or the other before the former finally closed it out 7-6 (1), 3-6, 7-6 (7).
There were moments in the final set when the match looked gone. At 2-2, Sabalenka double-faulted her way into a 0-40 hole and dropped to her knees. She fell behind 2-4 soon after.
But instead of unravelling the way she has so often this year, she turned it around — breaking back to love and grinding through a 17-point second tie-break to seal the win.
Noskova served 18 aces, while Sabalenka finished with 46 per cent of her service points going unreturned. Both women played fearless, first-strike tennis, stepping inside the baseline and taking the ball early whenever they could.
Why is this win being compared to Serena Williams, and what record has Sabalenka now matched?
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With the victory, Sabalenka reached her sixth consecutive US Open semi-final, a run that stretches back to 2021.
And that puts her alongside just five other women to have made six or more straight semi-finals at Flushing Meadows in the Open Era — a list that includes Chris Evert with 16 between 1971 and 1986, Steffi Graf with seven from 1985 to 1991, Martina Hingis and Venus Williams with six apiece, and Serena Williams, who also managed six in a row from 2011 to 2016.
Sabalenka has now won 18 straight matches at this event since the start of her 2024 title run, and she sits at 39 wins and six losses at the US Open overall. Across all four Grand Slams, her record now stands at 118 wins and 29 losses.
Speaking after the match, Sabalenka said, “What a battle. What an incredible player she is.” She added that she was “pushing myself to the limit” in the third set and admitted, “I honestly thought that that’s it, the match is over.”
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That feeling, she explained, helped her play more freely. “Super happy to get this win,” she said. “Super happy.”
She now moves on to face Jessica Pegula of the USA with a third straight US Open title on the line, and a shot at matching Serena’s 2012 to 2014 three-peat, still very much within reach.
What record did Aryna Sabalenka match at the 2026 US Open?
Sabalenka became only the sixth woman in the Open Era to reach six consecutive US Open women’s singles semi-finals, matching the run Serena Williams put together from 2011 to 2016. Her own streak began in 2021.
What was the final score of the Sabalenka vs Noskova quarter-final?
Sabalenka won 7-6(1), 3-6, 7-6(10-7) in two hours and 22 minutes, coming back from a 2-4 deficit in the deciding set and closing it out with a second-serve ace.
Who does Sabalenka play next, and what titles is she still chasing?
She faces Jessica Pegula in the semi-finals. A win there would put her one match away from a third straight US Open title, a feat only Serena Williams managed from 2012 to 2014.
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