Sabalenka Survives Noskova Thriller to Keep Three-Peat Dream Alive at US Open

Aryna Sabalenka is through to the 2026 US Open semi-finals after a quarter-final of relentless tension, edging reigning Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova 7-6(1), 3-6, 7-6(10-7) at Flushing Meadows.

The defending champion trailed 4-2 in the deciding set — the third and final set, which determines the winner after the first two are split. She won the next three games to turn the match, then held her nerve in a tiebreak — the first-to-seven, win-by-two sprint that decides a set locked at 6-6 (BBC Sport).

Sabalenka sealed it with a second-serve ace. A serve that lands untouched, unreturnable, on her slower delivery — the one most players use to keep the ball in play. She went for the corner and found it.

The tiebreak was her 10th consecutive win in that format at the US Open, a streak dating back to 2021. When the pressure peaks in New York, Sabalenka's best tennis tends to arrive with it.

This was only her second quarter-final victory since March — a striking figure for a player who won titles in Brisbane, Indian Wells and Miami earlier in the season. She also suffered last-16 exits in Toronto and Cincinnati during the hard-court build-up to this tournament, raising fair questions about her form heading in.

Against Noskova, those questions lingered. The sixth seed from Czechia hit more winners and fewer unforced errors than Sabalenka across the match, and saved seven of the nine break points she faced — break points being the chances to take the server's game. By most statistical measures, Noskova was the cleaner ball-striker on the day.

But Sabalenka has never lost a US Open quarter-final. She has now won all six she has played (BBC Sport). Some players raise their level for the occasion. Sabalenka, at this stage of this tournament, simply refuses to lose.

Noskova, 21, arrived as the Wimbledon champion and riding an 11-match winning streak at Grand Slams — the four most prestigious events on the tennis calendar. She had needed six match points to get past Marta Kostyuk in the previous round, converting her sixth to reach her first US Open quarter-final (WTA). Her run is over, but her year — a first major title at the All England Club, then a deep run in New York — marks her among the sport's emerging forces.

For Sabalenka, the stakes are now simple and enormous. Win two more matches and she claims a third consecutive US Open title, something no woman has done since Serena Williams won three in a row from 2012 to 2014.

She will need to serve better than she did here. Four double faults — serves that land beyond the service box, handing the opponent a free point — kept Noskova in rallies that Sabalenka should have closed. Against a semi-finalist playing with less pressure and more freedom, that margin may not hold.

But Sabalenka in a US Open tiebreak is a different proposition. Ten in a row says so. And the dream of three straight in New York is still alive.