Defending champions Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff will headline the US Open competition, the final Grand Slam competition of the year, starting from August 26, with Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek, the number one duo being the top seeds across men’s and women’s categories. The competition will be taking place till September 8. Both Gauff and Djokovic are arriving in the US for this competition with two different trajectories. Gauff has struggled as of late, holding an unremarkable record of 3-4 in her last seven matches. She could not impress a lot in the Paris Olympics as well, exiting the competition in third round, succumbing to the silver medalist Donna Vekic, as per Olympics.com.

The 20-year-old was on a roll last year this point, winning titles in Washington and Cincinnati before landing a huge victory in the US Open. It would be interesting to see how Gauff bounces back from recent setbacks in home conditions. She will be opening her campaign against France’s Varvara Gracheva, with a potential third-round clash against Elina Svitolina on the cards as well.

On the other hand, Djokovic will be chasing a historic 25th Grand Slam title after securing the landmark Paris Olympic gold medal with a win over Carlos Alcaraz, avenging his loss to him Wimbledon finals just before the summer sporting extravaganza.

Sinner had tested positive for a prohibited substance, clostebol in March, but as per an independent tribunal, he bore “no fault or negligence”. The Italian landed his first major title this year, with a triumph at Australian Open in January. He has momentum by his side as he secured the Cincinnati Open title this week and will be playing America’s Mackenzie McDonald in the first round.

In the men’s draw, Sinner and Djokovic are at the opposite sides, while the world number three and current Wimbledon champion, Olympic silver medalist Alcaraz is in the top half with Sinner. Number four seed Alexander Zverev joins Djokovic at the bottom of the draw.

Swiatek has 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in her half of the draw, while Gauff has second seed Aryna Sabalenka, who won the Cincinnati Open title as well.

The Italian, who won his first major at the Australian Open in January and captured the Cincinnati Masters earlier this week (19 August), will face American Mackenzie McDonald in the first round.

The Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen is the seventh seed, with Sabalenka a seeded quarterfinal opponent. If this match takes place, it will mark a rematch of the Australian Open final from this January, where Sabalenka emerged victorious.

US Open tennis: Schedule of play

Matches get underway daily at 1100 local New York time (EDT, GMT -4), with an evening session inside both Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong Stadiums at 1900.

Monday & Tuesday, 26 & 27 August – Men’s & women’s singles first round

Wednesday & Thursday, 28 & 29 August – Singles second round; doubles underway

Friday & Saturday, 30 & 31 August – Singles third round

Sunday & Monday, 1 & 2 September – Singles fourth round

Tuesday & Wednesday, 3 & 4 September – Singles quarter-finals

Thursday, 5 September

1500 – Women’s (or mixed) doubles final

1900 – Women’s semi-finals

Friday, 6 September

1200 – Mixed (or women’s) doubles final

1500 – Men’s semi-final (one of two)

1900 – Men’s semi-final (two of two)

Saturday, 7 September

1200 – Men’s doubles final

1600 – Women’s singles final

Sunday, 8 September

1400 – Men’s singles final.

Aryna Sabalenka squandered nine match points but defeated world number one Iga Swiatek 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday, breaking through to her first final at the WTA and ATP Cincinnati Open. Four-time Cincinnati semi-finalist Sabalenka will rise to second in the WTA rankings with a week to go before the start of the US Open. “I finally broke the barrier,” Sabalenka said of her place in the final. “It was such a tough battle with Iga, and we also had to be patient with the weather.”

Raindrops required the court lines to be dried by towels during several short interruptions.

Sabalenka will play Monday’s final against US sixth seed Jessica Pegula, a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 winner over Spain’s Paula Badosa.

Pegula, who won last week’s Toronto title, is the third American in the Open Era to reach the Canadian and Cincinnati finals in the same year after Rosie Casals (1970) and Serena Williams (2013).

Sabalenka had a battle on her hands to close out her win, with Swiatek putting up a huge battle in the closing stages.

Third-ranked Sabalenka led 5-1 in the second set but Swiatek showed why she is ranked atop the WTA table as she repeatedly saved match-winners from her opponent.

Sabalenka was broken for 5-3 but finally claimed the hard-fought victory a game later with a concluding break of Swiatek on a return winner on her 10th match point after nearly two hours.

“That was a brilliant performance from me. I’m really happy with the win, especially against Iga,” said Sabalenka.

“We always have tough battles and get this win in straight sets… that’s kind of like achievement for me.”

Pegula and Badosa were hit by a rain delay of well over an hour midway through the second set with Badosa leading 4-3 and trailing a set.

They resumed with the Spaniard forcing a third set before Pegula broke for 5-3 in the third and served out victory a game later.

“We had tough conditions, but I was able to not get frustrated with the rain delay,” Pegula said. “I felt I was playing and competing well.

“Paula was hitting so hard, I didn’t know what to do sometimes. I had to remind myself to be aggressive and serve well. I knew it would be hard to break her.

“But I played a couple of good points and was able to serve it out.”

Pegula said she expects to give Sabalenka “some trouble” in the final.

“It will be a good test to go up against her,” Pegula said. “I’ll do my best. It has been a long couple of weeks.”

Swiatek ‘wasn’t good’

Sabalenka’s victory served as revenge after losing to Swiatek in Masters-level clay finals at Madrid and Rome last spring.

“Aryna was just playing better today and using her advantages,” Swiatek said. “I didn’t serve well at the beginning, which threw me off my rhythm. For sure, it wasn’t a good performance for me.”

Swiatek she played overall better than she expected, adding, “I’m happy with the result anyway. I’m already kind of focusing on what I need to do to feel even better in New York. And we’ll work on stuff for sure.”

Zheng Qinwen ended Iga Swiatek’s 25-match unbeaten streak at Roland Garros on Thursday to become the first Chinese player to reach an Olympic Games singles final as Carlos Alcaraz marched closer to a showdown with Novak Djokovic. Defending champion Alexander Zverev however crashed out, losing his quarter-final to a fired-up Lorenzo Musetti of Italy.

Seventh-ranked Zheng triumphed 6-2, 7-5 over world number one Swiatek and will face either Croatia’s Donna Vekic or Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia for gold. 

“I feel more than just happy, happy isn’t enough to describe how I feel,” said Zheng, who had played back-to-back three-hour matches to make the semi-final. “If you ask me to play another three hours for my country, I would.”

Swiatek, a four-time French Open champion at Roland Garros, went into the match having not lost in Paris since 2021. The 23-year-old had also defeated Zheng in all of their six previous meetings.

However she was hit off the court by the powerful 21-year-old Australian Open finalist who broke the Pole three times in the opening set. 

Swiatek appeared restored by a 10-minute break and quickly stretched out to a 4-0 lead in the second set before Zheng battled back, retrieving both breaks for 4-4. 

The Chinese star broke again for a 6-5 lead against the error-plagued Swiatek and claimed victory in the next game. By making the final, Zheng is the first Chinese man or woman to reach an Olympic singles gold medal match, bettering the run of Li Na, who finished fourth in the women’s event at Beijing in 2008.

China’s only Olympics tennis gold came thanks to Li Ting and Sun Tiantian in the women’s doubles at Athens in 2004.

‘About the fight’

Alcaraz, back at Roland Garros where he won a maiden French Open in June, became the youngest Olympic semi-finalist since Djokovic in 2008.

The second seed saw off 13th-ranked Tommy Paul of the United States 6-3, 7-6 (9/7) after recovering from a break down in the second set and saving a set point in the tie-break. “It’s all about the fight,” said Alcaraz, 21, who was playing the day after he and Rafael Nadal suffered a heartbreaking doubles loss in what was probably the veteran’s final appearance at Roland Garros.

Alcaraz will next face Felix Auger-Aliassime, who became the first Canadian to make the semi-finals with a 6-4, 6-7 (8/10), 6-3 win over sixth-seeded Casper Ruud, a two-time French Open runner-up.

Champion Zverev out

Musetti stunned Zverev 7-5, 7-5 on the back of 20 winners as the world number 16 became the first Italian to reach the singles semi-finals since tennis returned to the Olympics at Seoul 1988. He will face either top seed Djokovic, who beat him in the Wimbledon semi-finals, or Stefanos Tsitsipas for a place in the gold medal match.

When asked who he’d prefer to face, Musetti replied: “Neither of them, of course.” Zverev said illness was partly responsible for his defeat but also blasted the schedule as “a disgrace” after playing his quarter-final less than a day after his last-16 tie.

World number one Iga Swiatek crashed out of Wimbledon on Saturday, losing to Yulia Putintseva as the top seed’s 21-match win streak came to a shock end in the third round. The Polish star, who won a fourth French Open and fifth Grand Slam title last month, was stunned 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 by the Russian-born Kazakh, who goes on to face the equally fiery Jelena Ostapenko for a quarter-final place. “Feels great, I was just so focused on just playing fast and not giving her any time and that’s pretty much it,” said 29-year-old Putintseva after her win on Court One.

“I was thinking during the match that I had already beaten a world number one on grass so I think it was meant to be,” she added, recalling her win over Naomi Osaka in Birmingham in 2019.

“This is crazy guys, it was great energy from all of you and I was trying to entertain you more and more with my shots and I was taking energy from you guys.”

After winning the first set, it appeared business as usual for Swiatek, who went into Saturday’s match with a 4-0 head-to-head record over the 35th ranked Putintseva.

However, the diminutive Putintseva stormed back in the second set on the back of breaks in the fourth and sixth games.

Putintseva held her nerve to cruise to a double break and a 4-0 lead in the decider.

Swiatek saved two match points but was defeated on the third when she buried a forehand return into the net.

The Pole, who has never got past the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, committed 38 unforced errors to Putintseva’s 15. The Kazakh saved seven of eight break points.

It was only the fourth time in the Open era that the Wimbledon top seed had lost in the third round.

That fate befell Ana Ivanovic in 2008, Serena Williams in 2014, Simona Halep in 2018 and Swiatek, who was stunned by Alize Cornet at the same stage two years ago.

Putintseva, a three-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist, extended her grass-court streak this year to eight wins and no defeats after winning the Birmingham title last month.

Novak Djokovic came through a testing Wimbledon workout to stay on course for a record-equalling eighth men’s title on Thursday as Andy Murray prepared to launch his emotional farewell. Jessica Pegula became the highest-ranked player to exit the tournament so far, dumped out by China’s Wang Xinyu in the second round but women’s top seed Iga Swiatek cruised through. Seven-time champion Djokovic did not have it all his own way against British wild card Jacob Fearnley but came through 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 in a match lasting three hours. It appeared to be business as usual for the Serbian as he coasted into a two-set lead on Centre Court but the 277th-ranked Fearnley broke his illustrious opponent twice in the third set to reduce the deficit.

Fearnley, playing in his first Grand Slam, carved out two break points in the sixth game of the fourth set but missed his chance and Djokovic broke in the 11th game before serving out for the win.

“I didn’t have a chance to see him play,” said Djokovic, 37. “Actually two days ago, I saw him for the first time

“Obviously there’s always an element of surprise and with him having nothing to lose.”

“Most of the British players grow up being exposed to grass courts, quick surfaces, so they know exactly how to play. It’s a very windy day, very challenging conditions and I thought he served very well.”

Djokovic, who is playing with protection after a recent knee operation, is seeking to equal Roger Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon men’s titles and is aiming for a record 25th Grand Slam title.

Fifth-ranked Pegula went down 6-4, 6-7 (7/9), 6-1 to China’s Wang Xinyu, who celebrated her first win against a top-10 player.

The American battled back after losing the first set, saving a match point in the second-set tie-break, before levelling the match.

But China’s 42nd-ranked Wang raced into a 5-0 lead in the decider and sealed the deal.

Wang, 22, said: “Couple of days ago I was asking my coach, ‘When will this happen?’

“Jessica was really tough to play on grass. Her ball was super low and I’m just really happy I won in the end.”

Wang will face Harriet Dart, who defeated Nottingham champion Katie Boulter in an all-British clash for a spot in the last 16.

World number one Swiatek progressed smoothly into the third round at the expense of Croatia’s Petra Martic, racking up a 21st straight win.

A single break in each set was enough to give the 23-year-old, who has never been past the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

All eyes will be on Centre Court in the evening when Murray launches his Wimbledon farewell alongside his brother Jamie in the men’s doubles.

Murray, the champion in 2013 and 2016, was desperate for one last crack at the singles but ran out of time after recent surgery to remove a spinal cyst.

The British former world number one still has a chance to wave goodbye to his adoring fans in both the men’s doubles and mixed doubles as he treads the turf for a final time, 19 years after his Wimbledon debut.

“I’m hoping maybe for a bit of closure. I just want the opportunity to play one more time out there, hopefully on Centre Court, and feel that buzz,” the 37-year-old said before the tournament started.

Murray is a three-time Grand Slam singles champion but has form in the doubles — teaming up with Jamie to help Britain win the 2015 Davis Cup.

The Murrays will face Australian pair Rinky Hijikata and John Peers on Thursday, with the decibel count expected to soar.

Andy Murray is also scheduled to play mixed doubles with British compatriot and former US Open champion Emma Raducanu.

Elsewhere on day four of Wimbledon, two-time finalist Ons Jabeur beat US qualifier Robin Montgomery in straight sets while Elena Rybakina, the 2022 women’s champion, finished strongly to beat Germany’s Laura Siegemund 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

On the men’s side, 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov came back from two sets down to beat China’s Shang Juncheng while Swiss veteran Stan Wawrinka exited at the hands of Gael Monfils.

Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, seen as an outside tip for the title, was forced to quit his second-round match against Arthur Fils with a knee injury.

French Open runner-up Alexander Zverev, the Wimbledon fourth seed, is last on the list on Court One.

Reigning champion Iga Swiatek celebrated her 23rd birthday by brushing aside Marie Bouzkova to reach the French Open last 16 on Friday, while Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz both powered into the second week. Alcaraz got the better of Sebastian Korda in straight sets to edge closer to a semi-final meeting with Sinner, who saw off Russian Pavel Kotov 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. “Sebastian Korda is a great player and a really good ball striker,” said Alcaraz. “It is difficult to play against him. I had to run a lot. It was like a marathon for me today.”

Sixth seed Andrey Rublev suffered a shock exit at the hands of unheralded Italian Matteo Arnaldi, losing his cool repeatedly as anger at his performance boiled over.

Swiatek had to save a match point to avoid an upset defeat by fellow four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in a second-round thriller, but she was never in trouble during a 6-4, 6-2 win over Czech Bouzkova.

“I feel good physically, I had a day off yesterday,” said Swiatek. “I don’t feel like the match (against Osaka) stayed with me but we’ll see at the end of the tournament.”

The world number one is a red-hot favourite to lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen for a third straight year and become only the fourth woman to win four Roland Garros titles in the Open era.

She was much closer to her best form on Friday, hitting 34 winners and making only 19 unforced errors.

Swiatek will play Russia’s Anastasia Potapova in the next round on Sunday.

The Polish star’s win-loss record at the tournament stands at 32-2 and she has never failed to reach the second week.

Coco Gauff held off a late fightback from Australian Open semi-finalist Dayana Yastremska to win 6-2, 6-4 in the first match of the day on Court Philippe Chatrier.

The reigning US Open champion has an excellent record at Roland Garros, having previously reached two quarter-finals and the 2022 final which she lost to Swiatek.

The 20-year-old failed to serve out the match when leading 5-2 in the second set, but saved three break points in the 10th game before getting over the line, making the fourth round for a fourth straight year.

“When it was time to close out and the games were getting close and tight, I was trying to just remind myself I’m in the better position,” Gauff said.

“I’m the one up a set and double break, so I was just reminding myself of that.”

Gauff will play Elisabetta Cocciaretto for a last-eight berth, after the unseeded Italian beat Russian 17th seed Liudmila Samsonova in straight sets.

– Angry Rublev crashes out –

Rublev became the biggest casualty in the men’s draw so far, as he fell to a surprise straight-sets defeat by Italian Matteo Arnaldi.

Rublev, who lifted the Madrid Open title last month, repeatedly smashed his racquet in frustration as he made 37 unforced errors in an erratic display.

“Completely disappointed with myself the way I behaved, the way I performed,” admitted the Russian.

“The problem is the head, that today basically I killed myself, and that’s it.”

Arnaldi will face former runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas in round four after the Greek downed China’s Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.

Sinner barely had to break sweat, saving the only break point he faced in a dominant display against Kotov.

The Australian Open champion, who will overtake Novak Djokovic as world number one if he reaches the final, will next take on home hope Corentin Moutet who came from behind to defeat Sebastian Ofner in four sets.

Sinner, who has only lost two matches so far this year, is yet to drop a set in the tournament.

Wimbledon champion Alcaraz came through a potentially tough test against American 27th seed Korda 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 in the night session.

The world number three blasted 38 winners past his opponent to book a meeting with either Ben Shelton or Felix Auger-Aliassime, whose match was one of three men’s ties suspended overnight due to rain.

Alcaraz has now reached at least the fourth round in his last eight Grand Slam events.

Elsewhere in the women’s draw, Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova ended the run of Frenchwoman Chloe Pacquet, winning 6-1, 6-3.

She will next face Serbian qualifier Olga Danilovic, who backed up her upset win over Danielle Collins with another comeback victory in a deciding-set tie-break against Donna Vekic.

Tunisian eighth seed Ons Jabeur beat Leylah Fernandez, teeing up a fourth-round match with Clara Tauson, after the Dane followed her surprise second-round success against 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko by knocking out former finalist Sofia Kenin.

Reigning champion Iga Swiatek celebrated her 23rd birthday by brushing aside Marie Bouzkova to reach the French Open last 16 on Friday. Swiatek had to save a match point to avoid an upset defeat by fellow four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in a second-round thriller, but she was never in trouble during a 6-4, 6-2 win over Czech Bouzkova. The world number one is a red-hot favourite to lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen for a third straight year and become only the fourth woman to win four Roland Garros titles in the Open era.

She was much closer to her best form on Friday, hitting 34 winners and making only 19 unforced errors.

Swiatek will play Russia’s Anastasia Potapova in the next round on Sunday.

The Polish star’s win-loss record at the tournament stands at 32-2 and she has never failed to reach the second week.

Earlier on Friday, Jannik Sinner continued his serene progress at the French Open with a straight-sets victory over Russian Pavel Kotov in the third round.

The Australian Open champion, who will usurp Novak Djokovic as world number one if he reaches the final at Roland Garros, struck 36 winners and saved the only break point he faced in a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win.

Sinner will next take on either home hope Corentin Moutet or Austrian Sebastian Ofner for a place in the quarter-finals.

The Italian, who has only lost two matches so far this year, is yet to drop a set in the tournament.

Coco Gauff also eased into the second week for a fourth straight year. Gauff held off a late fightback from Australian Open semi-finalist Dayana Yastremska to win 6-2, 6-4 in the first match of the day on Court Philippe Chatrier.

The reigning US Open champion has an excellent record at Roland Garros, having previously reached two quarter-finals and the 2022 final which she lost to Swiatek.

The 20-year-old failed to serve out the match when leading 5-2 in the second set, but saved three break points in the 10th game before getting over the line.

Defending champion Iga Swiatek saved a match point to outlast Naomi Osaka.© AFP

World number one Iga Swiatek said she’ll be “rooting” for Rafael Nadal at the French Open but insisted it was fair the 14-time champion had not been seeded. Nadal, ranked a lowly 276 in the world after injury restricted him to just four tournaments since January last year, will face world number four Alexander Zverev in the first round of his farewell appearance. With an astonishing record of just three losses in 115 matches at Roland Garros since his 2005 debut, there were suggestions that officials should have the discretion to seed former champions.

“No, I think it would create a huge mess in the draws,” said defending women’s champion Swiatek.

“For example, in the women’s draw you have so many past Grand Slam champions, one of them would be seeded, one of them not because they won Wimbledon and not Roland Garros or they won Australian Open, not Roland Garros.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. It’s better to keep it that way, especially because you get seeded because of your past results. By ‘past’ I mean few months before.”

Nadal is not the only unseeded Grand Slam champion at the French Open this year.

Stan Wawrinka, whose 2015 Paris title is one of his three majors, faces fellow three-time Grand Slam champion — and also unseeded — Andy Murray in the first round.

In the women’s tournament, former Grand Slam champions Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber, Sofia Kenin, Bianca Andreescu and Sloane Stephens are also unseeded.

There have, however, been precedents — in 2018, Serena Williams was seeded at 25 for Wimbledon, where she was a seven-time champion, despite a world ranking of 183.

“For sure it’s a tough draw for Rafa, but I’m going to be kind of rooting for him,” added Swiatek. “Sorry, Alex. We’ll see.”

Rafael Nadal will face world number four Alexander Zverev in a blockbuster first round match at his farewell French Open while women’s champion Iga Swiatek and fellow four-time major winner Naomi Osaka are on a second round collision course. Defending men’s champion and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic will face French veteran Pierre Hugues-Herbert in his opener. Nadal, who has won Roland Garros on 14 occasions, is unseeded after injury saw his ranking plummet to 276. He and Zverev met in the semi-finals in 2022 when the German was forced to retire after suffering a serious ankle injury. Nadal, the winner of 22 Grand Slam titles, will turn 38 next week and this season will be his last on tour.

He holds a 7-3 winning head-to-head record against Germany’s Zverev with five of those victories coming on clay.

Zverev, 27, arrives in Paris on the back of lifting the Rome Open title last weekend.

“I’m going to play the French Open thinking that I can give my all, 100 per cent,” said Nadal after a second round exit in Rome last week.

As well as 14 titles in Paris, Nadal can boast a record of 112 wins and just three losses, two of which came against Djokovic who will be chasing a fourth French Open title.

Djokovic turned 37 on Wednesday and marked the occasion by winning the 1,100th match of his career in Geneva.

The Serb has yet to win a title in 2024 with runs to the semi-finals at the Australian Open and Monte Carlo Masters his best performances.

Following Thursday’s draw, Djokovic is seeded to face Zverev in the semi-finals.

World number two Jannik Sinner, who took Djokovic’s Australian Open title in January, faces Christopher Eubanks of the United States.

Third-seeded Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz, a semi-finalist in Paris in 2023, plays a qualifier.

Sinner and Alcaraz are seeded to meet in the semi-finals but both men have been suffering from injuries which forced them to skip the Rome event.

Andy Murray, the 2016 runner-up, is also competing at the tournament for the final time.

The 37-year-old tackles 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka, 39, in a battle of grizzled Grand Slam veterans.

The pair have met 22 times in a two-decade rivalry with Murray boasting a 13-9 edge.

Three of those clashes have come at Roland Garros with Murray winning in the semi-finals in 2016 while the Swiss came out on top in the last-four in 2017 and first round in 2020.

In the women’s draw, top seed and world number one Swiatek will take on a qualifier with Osaka facing Lucia Bronzetti of Italy in their openers before a potential second round clash.

Swiatek is bidding to win a fifth major and fourth French Open title.

“It feels like home here,” said Swiatek who arrives at the tournament with clay-court titles in Madrid and Rome under her belt. 

Former world number one Osaka, now ranked 134, has never got past the third round in Paris. Bronzetti, the world number 48, has yet to win a main draw in two visits.

Osaka, 26, has endured a bittersweet relationship with the French Open.

In 2021, she was fined for opting out of mandatory media commitments before withdrawing from the competition after just one match insisting she was protecting her mental health.

Osaka missed the 2023 edition due to being pregnant before giving birth to a baby girl in July.

Swiatek, meanwhile, is bidding to become the first player to lift three successive women’s titles in Paris since Justine Henin in 2007.

World number two Aryna Sabalenka starts against 101-ranked Erika Andreeva of Russia.

Third seed and US Open champion Coco Gauff faces a qualifier in the first round and is seeded to face Swiatek in the semi-finals.

Double Australian Open champion Sabalenka is seeded to take on former Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina in the last four.