For a place in the final, Sabalenka will face Czech Karolina Muchova (43rd) on Thursday, who beat Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-2 earlier in the day.
In another politically charged match, Svitolina did not shake hands with Sabalenka after the game, nor did the two players share a pre-match photo at the net.
Unlike her two previous matches after which Sabalenka had not given a press conference, a normally mandatory exercise, with the agreement of the Paris tournament, the 25-year-old Belarusian will present herself after qualifying for the last square, said the organization.
After her third-round match, Sabalenka cited her "own mental health" and "well-being", and admitted that she had "felt unsafe during her previous press conference. In a tense exchange, a Ukrainian journalist had summoned Sabalenka to explain his links with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. In the previous round, she had to comment on the refusal of her first opponent, another Ukrainian, Marta Kostyuk, to shake her hand.
On Centre Court on Tuesday afternoon, Sabalenka stood with her hands on the net, but Svitolina went straight back to her chair.
Between the two players, the game was balanced up to 4 games everywhere in the first set. Then Sabalenka took the upper hand by converting the very first break ball of the match and pocketing the first set in stride.
Svitolina led 2-0 in the second set, but the world No. 2 immediately came back to level and even lined up four games to widen the gap for good.
Qualified for the last four, Sabalenka forces the world N.1 and outgoing champion Iga Swiatek to reach the final to have a chance to stay on the throne at the end of the Parisian fortnight.
At 28, Svitolina, former world No. 3 who played with a protected ranking at Roland-Garros, was playing her first Grand Slam tournament since she gave birth to her first child last October, a little girl born from her union with Gaël Monfils, named Skaï.
© 2023 AFP