'Drinks on me!': Sabalenka tries to sway NY crowd

No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, last year’s US Open runner-up, surrendered just three games to Qinwen Zheng on Tuesday night in reaching the semifinals at Flushing Meadows for the fourth year in a row.

The quarterfinals featuring Sabalenka and No. 7 Zheng — a rematch of the Australian Open final in January won by Sabalenka — was the first matchup between players ranked in the top 10 on the women’s side at this year’s US Open.

With Roger Federer in the stands, attending the US Open for the first time since his retirement, Sabalenka displayed a typically powerful performance in a 6-1, 6-2 victory to set up a semifinals clash with Emma Navarro on Thursday.

A year ago, Sabalenka lost to American Coco Gauff in the US Open final as a partisan crowd loudly backed the champion. Now Sabalenka faces another American in Navarro.

So after her win Tuesday night, Sabalenka was asked by ESPN’s Pam Shriver what she might do “to try and get a few more people on your side?”

Sabalenka chuckled and told the folks in Arthur Ashe Stadium, “Drinks on me tonight?”

Then, repeating that offer to the thousands of spectators, the 26-year-old from Belarus added, “Please give me some support in the next match.”

She beat the 13th-seeded Navarro in the fourth round at Roland Garros but lost to her on the Indian Wells hard court earlier this year and said she expects a tough fight.

“She’s a great player,” Sabalenka said. “I saw her matches here, she’s playing incredible tennis and yeah it’s going to be great battle and I’m really looking forward to face her again.”

Sabalenka — who has won 33 of 36 sets in majors this year — is trying to become the first woman since Angelique Kerber in 2016 to win the hard-court major titles at the Australian Open and US Open.

The opponents in the other women’s semifinals match will be decided Wednesday, when No. 1 Iga Swiatek plays No. 6 Jessica Pegula, and No. 22 Beatriz Haddad Maia takes on unseeded Karolina Muchova.

Sabalenka improved to 9-1 in major quarterfinals, the second best win percentage among women since the Open era began in 1968 (min. 10 matches). Her nine major semifinals appearances since the start of 2021 lead all women’s players over that span.

The three games won by Zheng, the gold medalist at the Paris Olympics last month, were her fewest in a Grand Slam match. She made only 44% of her first serves.

“Today I felt a little bit tight,” Zheng said. “And the serve was not as what I expect.”

Zheng also noted that coming off a 2:15 a.m. finish to her fourth-round match with Donna Vekic — the latest ever for a US Open women’s match — affected her ability to practice Monday.

“Yesterday I was feeling terrible,” she said. “I couldn’t wake up. Even though I wanted to [practice, I didn’t feel] I could do it.

“I couldn’t complain … because sometimes the schedule is like this. … If I hit some balls yesterday, maybe that would help for [today’s] match, but it’s fine.”

ESPN Stats & Information, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.