Australian Open 2023: Stefanos Tsitsipas, Victoria Azarenka, Sania Mirza-Rohan Bopanna through to semi-finals

Stefanos Tsitsipas stormed into his fourth Australian Open semi-final, while former champion Victoria Azarenka inched closer to bidding for a third title in Melbourne on Tuesday (January 24).

No.3 seed Tsitsipas prevailed over Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic in straight sets 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-4 at Rod Laver Arena to ensure his third successive appearance in the last-four stage. Lehecka showed signs of nerves on his debut at the iconic arena as he could not match Tsitsipas’ brilliance.

With the win, Tsitsipas, who will meet Russia’s Karen Khachanov in the semi-final, has kept his dream of attaining the world number one ATP ranking alive. Tsitsipas and Novak Djokovic, who will play his quarter-final match on Wednesday, are in a bid to leapfrog Carlos Alcaraz to become No.1 if either of the two win the Australian Open title.

Tsitsipas’ semi-final opponent Khachanov reached the last-four stage after America’s Sebastian Korda retired from the quarter-final match at 7-6(5), 6-3, 3-0 due to a wrist injury.

AZARENKA BACK IN SEMIS

Former two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka eased past No.3 seed Jessica Pegula of America to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 2013. Azarenka breezed past Pegula 6-4, 6-1 in just one hour and 37 minutes, taking her tally to 47 wins in Melbourne and tying with Stefanie Graf for sixth most in the Open Era.

With 153 main-draw wins at all Grand Slams, Azarenka equalled Martina Hingis’ total for the 13th most in the Open Era. Meanwhile, Pegula fell to an overall fifth loss in major quarter-finals, including three in a row at the Australian Open.

Azarenka will meet Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon winner, in the semi-final. Rybakina of Kazakhstan secured a 6-2, 6-4 win over the 2017 French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko.

MIRZA-BOPANNA RIDE LUCK

Indian star pair Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna received a walkover from David Vega Hernandez (Spain) and Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) in the mixed doubles quarter-final. The Indians will meet No.3 seed Neal Skupski (Britain) and Desirae Krawczyk (USA) in the semi-final. Ahead of the Australian Open 2023, Mirza confirmed that it would be her last major tournament.