Another milestone for Aryna Sabalenka: Miami Open semis put her in legendary company

Aryna Sabalenka matched three tennis legends—including Serena Williams—after an impressive victory over Zheng Qinwen that secured her spot in the Miami Open semifinals. The world No. 1 has consistently performed at Grand Slams and WTA 1000 events for years, but this week, she achieved a new career milestone.

Sabalenka reached the Australian Open final in late January but fell in three sets to Madison Keys. Despite a lackluster Middle East swing, the Belarusian arrived in the U.S. for the Sunshine Double, featuring the prestigious WTA 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.

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Two weeks ago, she reached the Indian Wells final—avenging her loss to Keys in the semifinals—only to fall again in three sets, this time to Mirra Andreeva. After coming close to titles twice, she has now advanced to the Miami Open semifinals, where she seeks her first trophy of the season.

Her 6-2, 7-5 victory over Zheng marked her sixth consecutive win against the Chinese player and secured her a spot in another WTA 1000 semifinal. With this result, Sabalenka joins an elite group of legends—Serena Williams, Martina Hingis, and Steffi Graf—who have reached at least the semifinals at the Australian Open, Indian Wells, and Miami in the same season.

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The first to achieve this feat was 22-time Grand Slam champion Steffi Graf in 1994, followed by Hingis (1998, 2000, 2001) and finally Serena Williams in her iconic 2015 campaign. Of them all, only Graf managed to win all three titles, more than 30 years ago.

Sabalenka will aim to reach the Miami Open final when she faces Jasmine Paolini (No. 6) on Thursday night. The Belarusian leads the head-to-head 3-2 and has yet to drop a set in the tournament.

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