For a place in the last four, the 25-year-old Belarusian will face either world No.11 Barbora Krejcikova or Russian nugget Mirra Andreeva, already in the top 50 at 16. On the Margaret Court Arena on Sunday afternoon, Sabalenka lost almost as many games in one match as in her first three (five against six) but the world No.2 did not last forever, winning in 70 minutes .
In the previous round, Sabalenka had inflicted a double 6-0 in 52 minutes on the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko (33rd).