TENNIS – Carlos Alcaraz sizzled under the bright lights at the Australian Open and blazed into the semi-finals yesterday after fellow top seed Aryna Sabalenka remained cool in the unforgiving Melbourne heat to stay on course for another title.
Alexander Zverev was briefly made to sweat under the roof of Rod Laver Arena before overcoming Learner Tien, but a frustrated Coco Gauff unravelled in a racket-smashing meltdown following a stunning defeat by the resurgent Elina Svitolina.
That preceded Alcaraz’s dominant 7-5 6-2 6-1 victory over Alex de Minaur on the main showcourt, as the Spaniard dashed his sixth-seeded opponent’s hopes of ending a five-decade Australian wait for a homegrown men’s champion.
Sabalenka, chasing her third title in four years, also got into a high gear for a dominant 6-3 6-0 win over 18-year-old Iva Jovic on a sweltering Centre Court, where the roof was open with the ‘Heat Stress Scale’ not at its highest threshold.
Shortly after her victory, though, tournament organisers invoked the extreme heat policy as temperatures crossed the 40 Celsius mark, prompting the suspension of play on the outer courts and the closure of roofs on the main ones.
Up next for Sabalenka is Ukrainian 12th seed Svitolina, who took full advantage of Gauff’s woes on serve and reached her first Australian Open semi-final with a 6-1 6-2 victory in under an hour.
German third seed Zverev, runner-up to Jannik Sinner last year, secured a 6-3 6-7(5) 6-1 7-6(3) victory to stay on course for a first Grand Slam trophy but the path will get tougher with Alcaraz up next.
&uuid=(email))