A ruthless Garbine Muguruza booked a final showdown with Australia’s world No.1 Ashleigh Barty in the Yarra Valley Classic semifinals on Saturday.
Estonian Kaia Kanepi later continued her hot run of form to reach the Gippsland Trophy final, where Belgian seventh seed Elise Mertens awaits.
In the Murray River Open, third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime and eighth seed Daniel Evans will do battle for their first career title, while Italian teenage sensation Jannik Sinner will square off against compatriot Stefano Travaglia in the Great Ocean Road Open final.
Maria Sakkari, Anett Kontaveit, Jennifer Brady and Ann Li all advanced to the semifinals of the Grampians Trophy.
Muguruza marches on
Ten games in four matches. That is all Spanish sixth seed Muguruza has conceded all week at the Yarra Valley Classic.
Her 6-1 6-0 semifinal thrashing of 2019 French Open runner-up Marketa Vondrousova on Saturday was her most brutal yet.
A finalist at last year’s Australian Open, Muguruza dominated on serve as she won 88 per cent of first-serve points and never faced a break point.
“Yes, very happy for sure. It’s another final,” Muguruza said. “I played well today, my serve was working in the right moments and I felt like since the beginning of the match I could take control of the point.”
Her 55-minute victory set a fourth career showdown with top seed Barty in Sunday’s final. The Australian leads their head-to-head 2-1.
“[It’s] very exciting. Always good to play the top players, especially the No.1 right now. We’ve had tough matches so I’m expecting another battle.
“I love the energy and how people are excited to come and watch us play. We really feel this because we play for the crowd.”
Kanepi battles, Mertens gets easy passage
Seventh seed Mertens was the first to advance to the Gippsland Trophy final, following second seed Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal ahead of their scheduled showdown.
It left unseeded Kanepi and Russian ninth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova to do battle for the second berth, and it was the Estonian who prevailed 6-3 7-6(6).
Kanepi has started all guns blazing in Australia before, having won the Brisbane International in 2012, and returned Down Under with form on her side again.
It nearly all came unstuck in the opening round when she trailed Astra Sharma a set and a break, a let-off that may have relieved her of pressure for the rest of the week.
“Well maybe. I didn’t expect to be in the final, I just expected to play good every match I played,” Kanepi said.
After falling to Mertens in the second round of the French Open last September, the 35-year-old captured three ITF events to close her season. She enters Sunday’s final with a 1-1 record against the Belgian, and having won 19 of her past 20 matches.
“I think it helped me because I got to play a lot of matches at the end of the year,” Kanepi said. “It’s good for me to get matches, yes, but we will see if it was perfect [preparation for the Australian Open].”
Sinner saves match point to reach final
Training with Rafael Nadal in Adelaide leading into the Great Ocean Road Open could not have come at a better time as Sinner braces for a tilt at his second career title on Sunday.
The 19-year-old saved a match point to deny No.2 seed Karen Khachanov 7-6(4) 4-6 7-6(4) in a gruelling three-hour and eight-minute battle on Saturday night.
And the Italian paid tribute to the invaluable experience he gained learning from one of the greatest in the sport.
“For me, for a 19-year-old to practise with a player who won 20 Slams I think it’s the best preparation I can get,” Sinner said. “I think it has been two fantastic weeks and I can just say thanks to him for the preparation, which I think is much more important than playing tournaments because I can learn many, many things from him.”
Following the heartache of letting a two-set lead slip in the opening round of last year’s US Open against Khachanov, Sinner must have had a worrying sense of déjà vu when he failed to serve out the match at 5-4 in the third set on Saturday, but he rebounded to book an all-Italian final clash with Travaglia.
Sinner’s compatriot, ranked No.71, earlier advanced to his first career final with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Brazilian Thiago Monteiro.
Auger-Aliassime and Evans vie for first title
Either Canadian third seed Auger-Aliassime or British eighth seed Evans will enter the Australian Open on Monday with their first career trophy in the bag.
The 20-year-old Auger-Aliassime was in devastating form as he reached his seventh career final via a 6-1 6-2 trouncing of unseeded Frenchman Corentin Moutet in exactly one hour.
“The nerves are always there. You know, they were there today, as well, to be honest,” Auger-Aliassime said. “They were there yesterday, every match.
“Of course I'm well aware of my record, but I think tomorrow is another match. It's another match-up. I had very difficult match-ups in my last finals in terms of ranking.
“This time it's different, but it doesn't mean that it gets any easier.”
Earlier, the 30-year-old Evans posted a 6-2 6-2 result over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy to book his third career final. He has never faced the Canadian before, and relished entering as the underdog.
“He's a very good tennis player, very aggressive, big game. I'll have to try and stop his attacking play. Maybe me play a bit more aggressive and put him on the defensive,” Evans said.
“It would be great to win it, especially in Australia. I've played pretty good in Australia. I really like being in Australia ... Be nice, but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen.”
Grampians Trophy final four set
Fifth seed Sakkari had never taken a set off triple major winner Angelique Kerber in two prior showdowns, but on Saturday forged her way back to see off the German eighth seed 6-4 6-2 to reach the Grampians Trophy semifinals.
The fifth seed recovered from a 1-4 first-set deficit to surge home against the AO 2016 champion in 79 minutes.
The Greek will face sixth seed Kontaveit after the Estonian was handed a walkover into the semifinals following third seed Victoria Azarenka’s withdrawal.
Seventh seed Brady overcame unseeded Czech Barbora Krejcikova 7-6(5) 6-4 to book her place in Sunday’s other semifinal. She will meet fellow American Li, after the unseeded 20-year-old breezed past Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-1 6-3.