McIntyre Tennis

Friday WTA Results From The Sydney International

By: Mike McIntyre

Photos: Jimmie48 Tennis Photography

Friday saw the women's draw at the Sydney International narrowed down to its final two contestants.

In the all-Australian semifinal, Ashleigh Barty defeated Daria Gavrilova by a score of 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. Barty's story is one of the more unique on the WTA Tour as she took time away from the tennis circuit in 2015 to play professional cricket.

In the other semifinal Germany's Angelique Kerber continues to display her former World No. 1 form as she beat Camila Giorgi 6-2, 6-3. The win bumps her career head-to-head to a perfect 3-0 against the Italian.

The final between Barty and Kerber should be a good one. The pair have split their previous encounters that both came in 2017. Kerber won their first meeting in Brisbane early last season 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 and then Barty took their next match 6-3, 6-4 in Zhuhai.

In doubles action the third seeded pair of Gaby Dabrowski and Yifan Xu took the title over top seeded Andrea Sestini-Hlavackova and Latisha Chan 6-3, 6-1. It is the first title of the year for Canada and it bodes well for Dabrowski as she will attempt to win her second career Grand Slam in Melbourne. She won the mixed doubles at the French Open in 2017. 

Thursday WTA Results From The Sydney International

By: Mike McIntyre

Photos: Jimmie48 Tennis Photography

Quarterfinal action at the Sydney International on Thursday saw the draw taken down to the final four players. Australia's Daria Gavrilova had already received a walkover in her match from an injured Garbine Muguruza. She will face another Aussie in Ashleigh Barty which will give the locals a guaranteed player in the finals to cheer for. Barty has been on a roll this event and has yet to drop set. She dispatched Barbora Strycova 6-3, 6-2 to advance.

Angelique Kerber continued her impressive return to form with a 6-3, 6-1 win over 2014 Aussie Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova. It was Kerber's first straight set win of the tournament and she now stands at 7-0 on the year in singles competition between Sydney and the Hopman Cup.

The biggest surprised semifinalist must surely be Italy's Camila Giorgi who quickly got rid of the favored Aga Radwanska 6-1, 6-2. There might be something about Giorgi and the early part of the season as she started 2017 making the semi-finals in Shenzhen. She then failed to make it past the quarterfinals of any WTA events for the rest of the year. She has now won five straight matches in Sydney including the qualifying draw.

The semifinals then are set with Gavrilova vs Barty (1-1 career head-to-head) in the top half and Giorgi and Kerber (2-0 career head-to-head in favor of the German) in the bottom. Former World No. 1 Kerber now looks like the favorite between the four given her past accolades and recent return to form. The photo below captures her fighting spirit in 2018 as shot by the wonderful jimmie48.