Aryna Sabalenka reached her second successive semifinal at Flushing Meadows with a confident 6-1 7-6(4) victory over 2016 US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova.
The first set was absolute dominance of Sabalenka. The sixth seed raced to a 4-0 lead in and broke Pliskova’s serve one more time with a forehand winner on her third set point.
Just as it seemed that this Grand Slam quarterfinal against the former world No.1 would be an easy practice session for Sabalenka, Pliskova increased her consistency and, without service breaks, the second set progressed into a tiebreak.