Mumbai: Aryna Sabalenka dropped to her knees, arms flailing, and whined to her box as she hit what should have been a simple forehand putaway terribly wide.

The gap between the world and top seed Sabalenka is more than a hundred locations. Laura Siegemund is ranked No. 104 in the WTA rankings. But on Tuesday, in front of a full Centre Court at the All England Club, the German harassed, pressured, irritated, and pushed Sabalenka to the breaking point.

Just as Siegemund looked to be on the verge of scoring the greatest victory of her career and surprising Wimbledon with the biggest upset of this edition, Sabalenka battled back to win a hard-fought 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory and advance to her third semi-final at SW19.

"That was a true challenge. After the two-hour, 54-minute game, Sabalenka was still out of breath during her interview on the court when she told me, "She pushed me so hard." “Honestly, after the first set, I was thinking in my box, ‘guys, book the tickets, we’re about to leave this beautiful place.’”

"I'm really delighted with the victory because Siegmund had an amazing tournament and an amazing match,"

Siegemund, who was 37 years old and 118 days old, was the oldest woman to ever make it to her first quarterfinal at Wimbledon. She defeated the 29th seed Leylah Fernandez and the world champion along the route. No. 8 Madison Keys. Furthermore, it's easy to see how she won those games because of her play.

The experienced player with a lot of variety gives her opponents few opportunities to establish a rhythm. Although her groundstrokes lack strength, her slice off both wings is what does the most damage, particularly on grass courts. Her skill as a doubles player is evident in the fact that she often uses drop shots. She also utilizes the entire permitted 25 seconds between points in her own service games, occasionally even going a few seconds over.

"My weirdness is rather consistent," she had stated during the news conference after making it to the quarter-final. "I do it for me and not against other ones, but it does sometimes result in conflict. After that, I'm simply, like, well, that's how I am.

The hard-hitting, big-serving Sabalenka suffered from that style of play. The fact that Siegemund could hit a powerful serve with a drop shot winner, almost casually, may have been even more upsetting to the Belarusian's mind.

Even if Sabalenka maintained her composure throughout the match, credit must be given to her for pulling off the victory.

"It's a well-designed game." You know you have to work for every point going into a match against her,” Sabalenka said of her adversary. “She’s making everyone work against her. Whether you're a hard hitter or a good server, you'll have to put in the effort, run, and win the match.

"I was attempting to concentrate on myself. Even if I was a little bit on the edge about certain things, I didn't want her to see that I was irritated or anything.

It was necessary for Sabalenka to adapt. She began to use more slices than powerful groundstrokes as the game neared its conclusion. Since Ashleigh Barty won the Venus Rosewater Dish in 2021, the player was attempting a different strategy in the hopes of becoming the first top seed.

She ended the match her way, though, with a couple of powerful forehands and the decisive slam at the end.

Amanda Anisimova, an aggressive baseliner, is next up in the semi-final. The aggressive approach will continue.

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