Aryna Sabalenka, the world No. 1 and two-time champion at the Australian Open, survived a major scare against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to advance to the semifinals. Sabalenka was twice a break down in the deciding set,

Aryna Sabalenka’s bid for a third consecutive Australian Open championship will continue after she got past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in a surprisingly difficult quarterfinal.

After coming as close to defeat in Melbourne as she has for three long years, trailing by a break in the nerve-racking final set of her quarter-final match, Aryna Sabalenka drew on her unshakable mental toughness to find a way through to the semi-finals of the Australian Open with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

We're down to the final eight at the. Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff will look to continue their strong runs and set up a blockbuster semifinal showdown. We break down the matchups.

By Shrivathsa Sridhar MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open with a battling 6-2 2-6 6-3 win over Russian 27th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova,