Aryna Sabalenka reaches the Australian Open semifinals as she seeks a third title in a row

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Aryna Sabalenka’s bid for a third consecutive Australian Open championship will continue after she got past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in a surprisingly difficult quarterfinal Tuesday night.

Sabalenka has now won 19 matches in a row at Melbourne Park and will face her good friend, No. 11 seed Paula Badosa, in the semifinals Thursday.

Sabalenka had run her set streak to 25 at the place — dating all the way to the 2023 final — when she grabbed the opener against 2021 French Open runner-up Pavlyuchenkova.

But she had a hard time harnessing her intimidating strokes on a windy evening in Rod Laver Arena until doing so down the stretch and collecting the last three games after the third set was tied at 3-all.

“Honestly,” Sabalenka said, “I was just praying.”

She won her first major championship at Melbourne Park in 2023, then added another last January, before raising her total to three Grand Slam trophies at the U.S. Open last September.

The last woman to win the Australian Open three straight years was Martina Hingis from 1997 to 1999.

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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis