When Aryna Sabalenka first emerged in professional tennis, to describe her as inconsistent would have been a gross understatement. She was inexperienced and incredibly erratic, blessed with so much power that she could only occasionally control. At times, Sabalenka seemed just as likely to hit the back fence as she was to successfully beat an opponent.

The Belarusian’s development in recent years has been remarkable and she has gradually become one of the most reliable players in the world’s biggest tournaments. She also demonstrated her consistency late on Wednesday evening in New York, when she parodied one of the most eagerly awaited matches of the tournament: she swept Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen off the court 6-1, 6-2 and moved back into the semifinals of the US Open.

Since the 2022 US Open, Sabalenka has reached the semifinals or better in seven of the last eight Grand Slam tournaments she has competed in, with the exception being a quarterfinal at the French Open. A finalist in New York last year, where she lost to Coco Gauff, Sabalenka has now also reached the semifinals or better at the US Open each of the last four years, becoming the first player to do so since Serena Williams between 2011 and 2016.

“To be honest, I didn’t even know how to deal with this pressure before,” Sabalenka said of her numerous semifinal appearances. “On those days off, I thought too much about tennis and just wasted my energy on it.”

“These days I try to take things a little easier. It’s just tennis, you know. I try to play my best tennis every time and fight for it. And I know that no matter what happens on the court, I will fight for it. If it’s meant to be, it will happen.”

This run is particularly significant after some difficult periods this summer. Sabalenka had reached six consecutive Grand Slam semifinals until she appeared to struggle with illness during her quarterfinal loss to Mirra Andreeva at the French Open. Sabalenka then withdrew from Wimbledon on the eve of the tournament with a shoulder injury and had to gradually find her way back to form during the North American hard court tour. Between winning the Cincinnati Open and returning to the semifinals of the US Open, she has returned to her best form.

Although Sabalenka has become so reliable and confident in the big tournaments, this was a huge disappointment for Zheng as she failed to really put Sabalenka under pressure, which was also the case in the Australian Open final earlier this year. While Zheng struggled after her first Grand Slam final, she has played with remarkable confidence in New York since her triumph in Paris and the tumultuous celebrations in China.

Zheng was in devastating form especially on serve, hitting 49 aces in four games and winning 80% of her first serve points. But her serve motion is also unconventional and choppy, meaning her serve is devastating when it lands, but her first serve percentage is often low. She finished the match winning 44% of her first serves.

In her first service game, Zheng missed five of her first six serves, allowing Sabalenka to crush her second serve and break her immediately. This game set the tone for the rest of the match, as Sabalenka struck the ball perfectly from both wings, pressured Zheng’s big swings with her tremendous power and depth, served extremely well and stayed highly focused until the end.

Not even the announcement that Roger Federer was in the crowd and the subsequent standing ovation he received could shake Sabalenka’s concentration. “I thought to myself, ‘OK, I have to play my best tennis so that he can enjoy it,'” Sabalenka said. “I have to show my skills, you know, slicing skills, going to the net and all that stuff. It was a nice moment. Nice to see him here.”

Although this was a disappointing performance from Zheng, there are some mitigating circumstances for the 21-year-old. She has reason to be unhappy with the tournament organization after her epic, high-scoring battle with Donna Vekic, a rematch of the Olympic final, ended at 2:15 a.m. on Monday morning as the latest women’s match in US Open history. Zheng said the long night had significantly affected her preparations, as she was unable to sleep until just before 5 a.m. on Tuesday.

“It affected me a lot, of course,” she said. “Especially after I finished the match at 2:30 a.m., I couldn’t sleep. It affected me because I couldn’t train yesterday because I felt terrible yesterday. I couldn’t wake up. I even wanted to play tennis, but I don’t think I’m capable of that.”

Sabalenka will next face No. 13 Emma Navarro after the American reached her first Grand Slam semifinal with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Spaniard Paula Badosa. As she did against Gauff, No. 13 Navarro again produced an extremely solid and sparkling performance under pressure, showing excellent depth and tolerance on both groundstrokes in the crucial moments. After trailing 1-5 in the second set, Navarro won six games in a row against a weak Badosa.

Navarro is the daughter of billionaire businessman Ben Navarro, who owns Credit One Bank. This leaves the last two Americans in the drawing, Navarro and Pegula, both children of billionaires. After her win, Navarro thanked her father:

“I think he had a vision when I was really little,” she said. “He knew I might have a little bit of ADHD or something from sitting in the classroom or working a 9-to-5 job. He saw something in me at a young age. So thank you, Dad, for sending me on this journey.”

Before she knew whether she would face Sabalenka or Zheng, Navarro reflected on her criticism of Zheng after their match at the Olympics. She had told Zheng during a handshake that she didn’t respect her before later calling her “cutthroat,” which some tennis fans have made a flattering nickname for Zheng. Navarro has never really explained what her problem with Zheng is.

“I don’t want to go into too much detail, but I think during the game and on the practice court and the last few times I’ve played against her – we’ve been playing against each other since we were juniors – I felt a little disrespected by her,” she said. “I don’t want to go into too much detail. But I think she didn’t necessarily treat me or the sport with respect. That’s why I said what I said after the game.”