US Open: Aryna Sabalenka uses Roger Federer as inspiration to play 'best tennis' in quarter-final win over Qinwen Zheng

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Aryna Sabalenka was given an extra dose of motivation as five-time US Open champion Roger Federer was in the stands to watch her quarter-final match against Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng in New York. The No. 2 seed produced a dominant performance to claim a straight-sets victory and cruise into the last four, and later said she wanted to "show my skills" in front of Federer.

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Aryna Sabalenka said she was inspired to "play my best tennis" with Roger Federer watching on in the stands as she produced a dominant performance to defeat Qinwen Zheng in the US Open quarter-finals.

Five-time US Open champion Roger Federer was in attendance at the Arthur Ashe Stadium as the No. 2 seed cruised into the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows with an emphatic 6-1 6-2 victory.

Sabalenka only needed 73 minutes to claim an impressive win over reigning Olympic champion Zheng, and she became the first woman since Serena Williams to reach four consecutive semi-finals at the US Open.

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The Belarusian was in fine spirits following the match and explained how she was influenced by Federer's appearance to raise her level to reach the last four.

"I saw him there, saw him on the big screen," Sabalenka said when talking about Federer.

"I was like, OK, I have to play my best tennis so he enjoys it. I have to show my skills, you know, slice skills, come to the net and all that stuff."

Sabalenka enjoyed a straight-sets win over Zheng in the Australian Open earlier this year, and it was more or less a repeat performance with the former world No. 1 overpowering her opponent.

Sabalenka hit 11 winners compared to the Olympic champion's nine and saved a break point in her second service game of the match - the only one she faced.

In her pursuit of winning the US Open for the first time in her career, Sabalenka will face Emma Navarro in the semi-finals, after the American cruised past Paula Badosa in her quarter-final.

“Yeah, she [Navarro] is doing really well," Sabalenka said in her press conference. "Beautiful to see she's working hard, playing really great tennis, smart tennis, moving well, hitting pretty heavy shots.

"The last two matches we played were really tough, tough matches physically and mentally. Even though I won the last one in two sets, it wasn't that easy match, and it was a very intense match. Yeah, I'm really looking for another great battle against her."

After missing out on the last four, Zheng cited that she was unable to play her best tennis after failing to fully recover from her fourth-round win over Donna Vekic, which finished at 2:15am local time on Monday morning.

Former US Open winner Andy Murray took to social media to hit out at the "amateurish" scheduling of the sport and Zheng mentioned it played a part in her defeat.

"For the last match I finished really late, so yesterday I cannot have my proper practice because I have no energy from no sleep," she said in her press conference.

"But today I feel I'm holding the ball better than last time. It's just, you know, there is some key point I didn't catch. Okay, even the score is like this, but I feel that I should have done better, yeah."

She continued: "Especially I wish I had, like, some time to prepare because I have always been in a rush since the Olympic Games.

"Actually, I'm happy about what I achieved today, because I only have three days for prepare US Open. I'm not able to do all my normal fitness programme. Yes, I have already done the best I can, and of course, today I can do better, but after today I will forget this match and move on.

"Just focus on the Chinese swing coming soon, because yes, I will be happy to play there again, because last year is the same. After the Asia Games five matches in a row, I'm dead [at the] Beijing Open. So I wish this year I had more time."

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