US Open champion Coco Gauff maintained her imperious form in the lead-up to the Australia Open by dismantling Emma Navarro 6-3, 6-1 in the semi-finals of the Auckland Classic on Saturday.
Gauff, world number three and top seed, will defend the title she won a year ago against number two seed Elina Svitolina, who defied a back injury to beat Wang Xiyu.
The Ukrainian needed two medical timeouts before fighting back to beat her unseeded Chinese opponent 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Gauff will be the fresher of the two finalists having not dropped a set all week and racing past fourth seed Navarro in a display that highlighted all her attacking weapons.
The 19-year-old served 10 aces and struck 26 winners, saying afterwards she knew what would be needed to quell her American compatriot.
“Just being aggressive, with my serve and my return,” she said.
“We played a practice set before the tournament started and she was playing really well so I knew it had to be my best game if I wanted to win.
“It’s definitely a good start to my 2024. Emma is an incredible player.”
Svitolina, whose quarter-final win over Marie Bouzkova didn’t finish until 11pm on Friday, played with discomfort from the outset and needed treatment to her lower back 20 minutes into the match.
The 29-year-old took another timeout straight after clinching the second set before emerging to play her best tennis in the closing stages.
Svitolina, who has beaten Grand Slam title winners Caroline Wozniacki and Emma Raducanu this week, said she would need to raise her game to stop Gauff.
“I had really tough matches in the first three rounds and after a late finish last night I went to bed at 2am, so it was not easy,” she said.
“It was really tough in the second set but I just pushed myself through. I played like there is no tomorrow.”
World number 25 Svitolina, who also needed her right ankle strapped during the second set, is a three-time Grand Slam semi-finalist.
Rybakina Beats Noskova
World number four Elena Rybakina put on a serving masterclass as she stormed into the Brisbane International women’s final Saturday, while top seed Holger Rune battled through to the men’s decider.
Russian-born Kazakh Rybakina blasted eight aces past Czech teenager Linda Noskova on her way to a 6-3, 6-2 win, breaking her opponent once in the first set and twice in the second.
Rybakina, who won Wimbledon in 2022, has only lost 12 games on the way to the final and is yet to drop serve in a perfect build up to the Australian Open, where was runner-up last year to Aryna Sabalenka.
“I didn’t expect I would play that well this week,” said the second seed, adding that she had been sick before arriving in Brisbane. “It’s an amazing start to the year for me.”
She made 75 percent of her first serves against Noskova, hitting 26 winners and making only 10 unforced errors to reach her 15th final on the WTA Tour.
She will play the winner of an all-Belarusian clash between top seed Sabalenka and former world number one Victoria Azarenka.
Rybakina has beaten Azarenka in both their previous encounters but has lost to Sabalenka in five of their seven meetings.
All but two of Rybakina’s matches against Sabalenka went to three sets, including the Australian Open final a year ago.
Denmark’s Rune progressed with a tough 6-4, 7-6 (7/0) win over unseeded Roman Safiullin.
The world number eight was able to absorb the big-hitting of the Russian, who hit 27 clean winners but also made 28 unforced errors.
After Rune won the first set thanks to breaking Safiullin’s opening service game, the Russian had the better of the second set, but collapsed in the tiebreak.
In Sunday’s final, Rune will meet either Bulgarian second seed Grigor Dimitrov or Australia’s Jordan Thompson, who beat Rafael Nadal in an epic quarter-final on Friday night.
Comments
0 comment