Sabalenka crushes Gauff to book spot in Indian Wells semis

AFP

Aryna Sabalenka put on a serving masterclass to crush American Coco Gauff 6-4 6-0 on Wednesday and reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells, where she will face seventh seed Maria Sakkari.

The Australian Open champion never faced a break point and used her hard and accurate serve to dispatch Gauff.

Sabalenka appears to have put her past struggles with double faults firmly behind her, not committing a single one against Gauff, while pounding down five aces and winning 87 per cent of her first serves.

Gauff quickly fell 2-0 down in the first set and was unable to match the Belarusian's level despite playing well.

Second seed Sabalenka kept her foot on the gas to dominate the second set despite the California crowd's attempts to urge on the sixth-seeded Gauff.

"I knew you guys wanted to send me home," a smiling Sabalenka told the crowd in an on-court interview.

"Thank you everyone for coming and supporting us, mostly her, but us. The atmosphere was unbelievable. I don't want to leave. I want to stay here as long as I can."

Later on Wednesday, Greek Sakkari fought back from a set down to beat 15th-seeded Czech Petra Kvitova 4-6 7-5 6-1.

Kvitova got off to a flying start, breaking twice to take a 5-2 lead. Sakkari then won back-to-back games, but Kvitova managed to hold serve under pressure to take the first set.

The two-time Wimbledon champion broke in the first game of the second set, but a string of double faults let her opponent back into the match.

Sakkari squared the set at 3-3 before once again taking advantage of Kvitova's shaky serve to force a decider.

Sakkari, last year's runner-up, broke twice in the third set before serving out to win the match in two hours and 15 minutes.

"It is (one of the best comebacks in my career), not only because I was down a set and a break but because she made me play like an amateur in the first set," she said.

"I tried to play as physically as possible, and all I can say is that I need a pedicure now, because my feet are bleeding so badly."

More from Sports News

  • Ireland beat India for first time in international cricket

    Abhishek Sharma's 19-ball fifty went in vain as world champions India were surprisingly beaten by Ireland for the first time in international cricket, slumping to a 34-run defeat in the first Twenty20 in Belfast on Friday.

  • Usyk vacates titles before 'last dance'

    Oleksandr Usyk said on Friday he had vacated his WBC, WBA and IBF heavyweight championships to pursue a final fight.

  • England roar back in second test against New Zealand

    England roared back into contention on the second day of the third and deciding test against New Zealand with Ben Duckett's rapid century helping his side to 223-2 after three wickets for returning captain Ben Stokes helped to dismiss the visitors for 438 at a sizzling Trent Bridge.

  • Williams to face Australia's Joint in Wimbledon comeback

    American great Serena Williams will face Australian 20-year-old Maya Joint in the first round of her eagerly awaited return to Wimbledon, a potentially tricky tie for the seven-time champion playing at the tournament for the first time since 2022.

  • Australia reach World Cup knockouts, Turkey beat USA

    Australia booked their spot in the knockout rounds of the World Cup on Thursday after a cagey draw against Paraguay, who are set to qualify as a third-placed finisher, while Turkey beat USA 3-2, scoring the winner with virtually the last kick of the match.

News