Sawt Falasteen - Sabalenka sets up Brisbane semi against Russian teen Andreeva

Sabalenka, who has won the last two titles at the Grand Slam in Melbourne, beat the Czech player 6-3, 6-4 in 1hr 45mins.

She now plays Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, who defeated Tunisia's Ons Jabeur 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).

"Her movement is really great, she's trying to get to every ball and make you play an extra shot so that's really difficult," Sabalenka said of the 44th-ranked Bouzkova.

"I came into this match really focused and I'm really glad I was able to put her under pressure and finish it in straight sets."

The 17-year-old Andreeva showcased her rich potential by defeating former world number two Jabeur in a high-quality encounter.

Jabeur was runner-up at Wimbledon in 2022 and 2023 but has been out of action since August with a shoulder injury.

Andreeva was able to deal with the tricky shotmaking of Jabeur, breaking her once in the first set and then recovering from two breaks of her own serve in the second set to force a tiebreak.

She raced through the tiebreak to wrap up the match in 90 minutes.

"It was mentally hard to keep pushing and playing aggressively because we all know that she's very good at playing games -- drop shots, slices," Andreeva said.

The second women's semi-final will be between Russian qualifier Polina Kudermetova and Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina.

In the men's draw, defending champion Grigor Dimitrov had an easy passage when Australian Jordan Thompson was forced to retire hurt with the Bulgarian ahead 6-1, 2-1.

Dimitrov, who has won the Brisbane title twice before, will play Czech Jiri Lehecka in the semi-finals.

Exciting French talent Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard made it 75 aces in three matches as he beat another Czech player in Jakub Mensik, 7-5, 7-6 (7/5).

Mpetshi Perricard has yet to drop a serve on his way to a semi-final against either Novak Djokovic or Reilly Opelka.

The Australian Open starts on January 12.

G.AbuGhazaleh--SF-PST