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Aryna Sabalenka is back in the US Open semifinals, but her Tuesday quarterfinal against Linda Noskova forced the defending champion to solve a much harder problem than the scorelines from her earlier rounds suggested.
Sabalenka defeated the Wimbledon champion 7-6(1), 3-6, 7-6(7) on September 8 at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The official US Open report confirms the three-set result, which pushed Sabalenka through another pressure-heavy match at a tournament where she entered as the two-time defending champion.
A quarterfinal decided at the margins
The first and third sets both reached tiebreaks. Sabalenka dominated the first breaker 7-1, but Noskova answered by taking the second set 6-3. That response prevented the match from becoming another routine Sabalenka win and created a deciding set in which neither player had much margin for error.
Sabalenka ultimately won the final tiebreak 9-7. The narrow finish is important: major championships are rarely won without at least one match where a favorite has to survive while playing an opponent capable of matching her power and taking away comfortable patterns.
Why surviving matters as much as dominating
Sabalenka’s best tennis can overwhelm opponents quickly, but the quarterfinal offered a different test. Noskova had already demonstrated championship-level form at Wimbledon, and she forced Sabalenka to manage momentum after losing the middle set.
That makes this result useful evidence for the semifinal stage. Sabalenka did not need the match to follow a perfect script. She absorbed a second-set loss, stayed close in the decider and executed enough high-pressure points to advance.
What SportsyVibe is watching next
The semifinal will put even more emphasis on first-serve quality, return pressure and recovery after a long three-set battle. Rather than projecting an opponent or result before the official bracket is settled, SportsyVibe will update the live-current picture from verified tournament information.
Image: generic women’s tennis photo by Renith R via Unsplash. It is not photography from the 2026 US Open.
Source: Official 2026 US Open match report, September 8, 2026.