NEW YORK -- Aryna Sabalenka was hoping to be asleep Sunday night when her fate with the No.1 ranking was decided. But when Jelena Ostapenko took the first set from Iga Swiatek, she couldn’t turn the television off.

“I was really curious, like, what’s going on there?” Sabalenka explained later.

US Open 2023: Draw | Order of play | Scores | 411

What was going on was a straight-sets demolition, sending Swiatek’s No.1 ranking of 75 weeks into the open arms of Sabalenka. When she woke up on Monday, there were more than a few messages.

“I just opened my phone,” Sabalenka said, “and I was like, `Guys, I have a match today. I have things to take care of.’ I was trying to stay focused on the game, don’t let this news distract me.”

For Team Sabalenka, work doesn't stop at World No.1

It didn’t. The No.2-seeded Sabalenka hammered Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-3. On Wednesday, she followed that up with a clinically clean 6-0, 6-4 quarterfinal victory over Zheng Qinwen of China. It was over in 73 minutes.

Sabalenka served brilliantly, winning 37 of 46 points and not facing a single break point. The 20-year-old Zheng, at least initially, looked overwhelmed in her first major quarterfinal.

“I think I definitely played great tennis today,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. “Super happy with the performance. I have myself another opportunity to do better in the semis.”

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Sabalenka has now won the first seven major quarterfinals of her career, second on the all-time list; she’s 3-0 at the US Open. Chris Evert, almost unbelievably, won her first 48 Grand Slam singles quarters.

Into her fifth consecutive berth in a major semifinal, Sabalenka will play the winner of the later match between No.9 Marketa Vondrousova and No.17 Madison Keys on Thursday night.

This is Sabalenka’s third straight year in the US Open semifinals; she lost to Leylah Fernandez in 2021 and Iga Swiatek in 2022.

Sabalenka is edging toward some remarkable history. The last woman to reach all four major semifinals in a single year was Serena Williams in 2016. Sabalenka owns a record of 22-2 at this year’s Grand Slams. Coming in, Sabalenka’s highest major win total for a year was 15, in 2021. Since the turn of the century, only three players have won more major matches in a calendar year -- Serena Williams (three times), Justine Henin (twice) and Jennifer Capriati.

The first set proved to be too big a moment for Zheng. With the blazing sun and Arthur Ashe Stadium roof creating a difficult environment to see the ball, Sabalenka’s first serve glanced off Zheng’s frame.

It didn’t get much better after that, as Sabalenka won 22 of the first 27 points to take a 5-0 lead.

Some 24 minutes in, Zheng got on the board but three minutes later, Sabalenka served out the set. It was the third straight time at this US Open that the winner in the quarterfinals served up a 6-0 bagel to open the match.

Zheng was a different player in the second set, playing with the poise that has her hovering on the brink of the Top 20. Serving at 2-all, she finished a 21-shot rally with a forceful forehand winner on the way to a 3-2 lead.

Sabalenka forged the first break point of the second set -- and converted it when Zheng’s backhand sailed long. Armed with a 4-3 lead, Sabalenka went on to close it out.