Aryna Sabalenka has shown her consistency as she becomes the first player since
Serena Williams in 2016 to hit one particular major milestone at
Wimbledon.
World No. 2 Sabalenka defeated twenty-fifth seed Madison Keys to make the semi-final at this year's SW19. The Belarusian won the quarter-final match in straight sets 6-2, 6-4. She is now one of the strongest competitors left after world No. 1 Iga Swiatek went out in her quarter-final round against Elina Svitolina.
However, this isn't the first time that Sabalenka has reached a Grand Slam semi-final in recent months. In fact, she reached this stage at both the
Australian Open and
French Open earlier this year.
A record last achieved by Serena Williams
The 25-year-old took the victory at the Australian Open, before losing to Karolina Muchova in the semi-finals of Roland Garros. Her recent success at Wimbledon means that she has now reached the semi-finals of each of these three Grand Slams in the same year.
This is an achievement not obtained since tennis legend Serena Williams did so back in 2016.
At the Australian Open that year, Williams reached the final where she lost to Angelique Kerber in three sets. The former world No. 1 then only dropped one set on her way to the 2016 French Open final, where she lost to Garbene Muguruza. At Wimbledon she faced Kerber in the final once more, finally getting her first Grand Slam win of the year as she defeated the German in straight sets.
Sabalenka will no doubt be hoping to make the final in order to emulate the success of Serena Williams there seven years ago. For now though, she will face sixth seed and last year's finalist Ons Jabeur in the semi-final.