Aryna Sabalenka needed every bit of her fight to survive the toughest test of her US Open title defense so far, edging past Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova 7-6(1), 3-6, 7-6(7) to reach a sixth straight semifinal at Flushing Meadows. Noskova, playing in just her third career Grand Slam quarterfinal, actually finished with more winners and fewer unforced errors than the top seed, 46 to 25 against Sabalenka’s 42 and 30, and out-aced her 18 to 12. 

The world No.1 entered the match leading their head-to-head 2-0, with both previous meetings coming before Noskova’s Wimbledon breakthrough, and now leads it 3-0. Here are five moments that defined the battle.

1. A dominant start undone by Noskova

Sabalenka came out firing, drilling groundstrokes down the line to race to a 3-0 lead before a blazing backhand return winner at 5-2 sent Noskova stumbling as she tried to chase it down beyond the baseline. That should have been enough to close out the set, but the Wimbledon champion refused to fold. 

Noskova shifted gears and mixed her heavy serving with rocket returns to force a tiebreak. Out of the 18 aces she scored throughout the match, eight of them came in the resurgence. Sabalenka eventually won the tiebreak, losing just one point. 

2. A double fault that briefly cost Sabalenka the entire match

Serving at 2-2 in the second set, the top seed went with a heavy second serve rather than playing it safe, and the gamble backfired. It handed Noskova the break she needed, and riding on that momentum with some exceptional drop shots, the Czech closed out the set 6-3 with an ace. 

Sabalenka has never been the one to shy away from her aggressive approach. At the most important point of the entire match, the match point, she once again went with a heavy second serve, and this time it paid off with an ace. 

3. The break to love that turned the decider on its head

In the deciding set, Noskova again broke Sabalenka’s serve in the fifth game. But this time, rather than folding, the 28-year-old Belarusian struck back at 3-4 down. She reeled off four straight points off Noskova’s serve, who had been serving brilliantly throughout the match, taking the break to zero. 

The 21-year-old Czech has faced issues closing out matches in this tournament, and that happened again, unable to retain the lead, and the four-time Grand Slam champion pushed the match into a 10-point deciding tiebreak. 

4. A perfect US Open tiebreak record, 10-0

Aryna Sabalenka is now 10-0 at the US Open in tiebreakers, and both the tiebreakers on Tuesday were no different, including the deciding-set tiebreaker. Noskova started the deciding tiebreak by winning two points, but Sabalenka immediately broke back and leveled it to 3-3 before the first changeover. 

After the changeover, the 28-year-old won three consecutive points before the sixth seed stopped her by winning two more points on her serve. Before the second changeover, Sabalenka served an ace and continued that momentum to close out the tiebreak 10-7 and the match in 2 hours and 22 minutes. The win created both personal and tournament milestones for Sabalenka.

5. First three-set win at a major all year, and leveling Serena’s milestone

For all of Sabalenka’s dominance at the top of the rankings, this was actually the first time in 2026 that she had won a Grand Slam match that went the distance to a deciding set. Taking that scenario into consideration, she turned that around against a very tough opponent. This victory even marked her first top-10 win since defeating Coco Gauff in Miami six months ago.  Sabalenka admitted afterward that the physical and mental toll of the battle actually helped her.

“I honestly thought the match is over, down in that third set, and I think that helped me feel loose, to go after my shots,” she said. “These kind of matches definitely boost my confidence, my energy and my motivation. Super happy to get this win, it was such a tough match, such a tough battle. It shows I’m ready to fight.”

The win pushes Sabalenka to six consecutive US Open semifinals, matching the run Serena Williams put together from 2011 to 2016 and last achieved by any player on tour. It is also Sabalenka’s 15th career Grand Slam semifinal, putting her two wins away from matching Williams’ run of three straight US Open titles between 2012 and 2014.

Now, she will be locking horns with the winner of another quarterfinal between the two Americans, third seed Jessica Pegula and former world No. 8 Emma Navarro, for a place in the final. The 28-year-old Belarusian has extended her winning streak to 18 matches and has just lost one match in her last 22 matches in New York. The two-time defending champion has a real chance to make it three in a row. 

The stakes stretch beyond the trophy itself. Sabalenka was just 434 points ahead of world No. 2 Elena Rybakina arriving in New York. Even if she wins the title, it’s not in her control to retain her No. 1 spot. If the Kazakh reaches the semifinal of the event, defeating Zheng Qinwen in the quarterfinals, she will dethrone Sabalenka and wear the No.1 crown. For Sabalenka, winning the title would still keep the gap close between her and Rybakina.