MELBOURNE, Australia: Dayana Yastremska secured her inaugural Grand Slam singles semifinal berth at the Australian Open by defeating Linda Noskova with a score of 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday.
Despite being the 93rd-ranked player and having to qualify for the main draw, Yastremska clinched the victory in 78 minutes. She is now poised to face either Zheng Qinwen, ranked 12th, or Anna Kalinskaya in the semifinals.
Notably, Yastremska becomes only the second qualifier in the Open era to advance to the women’s singles semifinals at the Australian Open, following in the footsteps of Christine Storey in 1978.
“It’s nice to make history because at that time I was not born, I’m 2000,” she said. “I’m super-happy, very tired.”
On her journey to the quarterfinals, Noskova defeated the top-ranked Iga Swiatek. Following this, on Wednesday, men’s No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 3 Daniil Medvedev strive to arrange a thrilling semifinal. Alcaraz is set to compete against sixth-seeded Alexander Zverev in the evening match, while Medvedev is scheduled to face No. 9 Hubert Hurkacz in the afternoon session.
