The victory on Tuesday gives Sabalenka her first place in the last four at Miami, with a clash against Italy’s Jasmine Paolini standing between her and a place in the final.
It looked like it was going to be routine business for the Belarussian against the ninth-seed Zheng when Sabalenka took the first set comfortably.
But Zheng had worked something out between sets and came out firing, breaking Sabalenka twice to open up a 4-2 lead in the set.
Sabalenka was in real trouble at 0-40 down but, after some signs of anger, was able to fight back to hold for 4-4 and then turned her aggression into a powerful finale.
With some blistering returns, the top-seed broke to go 6-5 and then with her serve at full force, confidently held to secure the win.
“Honestly every match is tough against her, I always have to work really hard to get the win and today was an incredible level from both of us,” said Sabalenka.
“I’m super happy to get this win. I’m super happy with the way I handled all the emotions and handled the pressure,” she added.
Earlier, Paolini moved into the semi-finals with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Poland’s Magda Linette.
Paolini, beaten in the finals at Wimbledon and the French Open last year, becomes the first Italian to make it to the last four in Miami.
It took just 77 minutes for Paolini to take care of business against Linette who had progressed into the quarters with a surprise win over Coco Gauff.
A lengthy delay to the start of the game, caused by heavy rain in the afternoon, didn’t cause any issues for the sixth-seeded Paolini who dominated from the off.
Paolini, who is looking for her second title at the WTA 1000 level, after last year’s triumph in Dubai, looked confident and said she had known her form would start to bring her results.
“I think I didn’t play bad this season but I just didn’t have a great result. But I was there. I lost many matches but to big opponents,” she said.
“It was tough but I was repeating to myself that I was there – maybe I just needed a little more confidence and it came here maybe,” she said.
Wednesday’s two quarters see second-seed Iga Swiatek up against Alexandra Eala, the wild-card teenager from the Philippines, who has already beaten Australian Open champion Madison Keys.
Britain’s Emma Raducanu, enjoying her best run at a tournament since her win at the US Open in 2021, faces American fourth-seed Jessica Pegula. (AFP)
