It’s been all about Alex de Minaur this summer and he had great hopes entering his semi final against French player Benoit Paire, once ranked 18: now at 42, but confident following his defeat of defending champion Gilles Muller in the quarters
The first semi final was between Fabio Fognini (4) and Daniil Medvedev.
It appeared one way traffic and a certain victory for the Italian who took the opening set easily 6-2 and had the early break in set two.
However Medvedev turned the match on its head, winning five of the last six games of set two and the deciding set 6-1,
This was after successfully winning through qualifying.
de Minaur, as Medvedev, also began below his best, and the French serve and booming forehand took control.
Losing just one point on his first serve compared with de Minaur’s success rate of only two thirds, rewarded Paire with a service break and the first set 6-4.
The fighting spirit of the Australian, rather than any tennis excellence, coupled with a sudden loss of the French forehand somewhere in Sydney, gave de Minaur front running for the rest of the match.
His resilience showed in a number of lengthy service games in which he was asked to save break points.
He did, in contrast to Paire who was broken five times in the match from eight opportunities - de Minaur was broken only once from the same number of chances,
de Minaur has gone one better than Brisbane, making his first ATP final in Sydney.
Before Alex stepped on court and thrilled spectators, we saw a rejuvenated Angie Kerber prove too strong for Camila Giorgi in straight sets, setting up a final with Ash Barty.
Barty had earlier fought back after fellow Aussie Dasha Gavrilova decisively grabbed the opening set 6-3.
Ash played a much better brand of tennis in set two, appearing to cruise to levelling proceedings.
A Barty brain snap led to Gavrilova breaking back late and taking the momentum.
However Barty immediately took heed of the situation, broke Gavrilova easily, won the set, won the match 3-6 6-4 6-2 improving as the match entered its final phases.
Another final for the top ranked Aussie, and her first on home soil.
If she wins a tough encounter with Angie Kerber, her ranking will rise to a new career high of 15
Despite winning their last match towards the end of 2017, Barty faces a woman on an eight match winning streak if you include the non WTA counted Hopman Cup success.
Auckland final:
Roberto Bautista Agut (5) v Juan Martin del Potro (2)
Hobart final:
Mihaela Buzarnescu v Elise Mertens (2)
Mihaela has been the revelation in Hobart, coming into the tournament ranked 57.
She defeated Alize Cornet (4) in the first round and Lesia Tsurenko (5) in the semis.
As a result she will now be in the top 50 - 44 now, 41 if she upsets Mertens in the final.
No comments:
Post a Comment