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2024 AO Tennis, women’s singles semi-final night review being done in straight sets with Sabalanka v Zheng now set for tomorrow night’s main event match at Rod Laver Arena

by Sports Benches

Time flies so fast but the Australian Open women’s semi finals night was all done as tomorrow’s last two challengers line-up is now set for the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy at Rod Laver Arena. Coco Gauff fell short both ways earlier on but defending champion Aryna Sabalanka didn’t lose her game at all by booking herself in another Final by in straight sets (6-7 with 2-7 tiebreak & 4-6). Then it was a battle for the first timers and same thing happened to Dayana Yastremska with the early pace form as that 2nd semi match was dominated by China’s Quinwen Zheng also in straight sets (4-6 & 4-6). Now the men’s semi-finals will roll out throughout today with Novak Djokovic v Jannik Sinner in the afternoon followed by Daniil Medvedev v Alexander Zverev at night.

Looks like Gauff has almost got it after a poor start she closed herself in towards the opening set. But not so fast when she just could not hold stop a patient Sabalenka in her tracks before Gauff was unable to bring a 3rd set decider also after falling short again in the 2nd set. She will get better with experience as this is her 2nd grand slam knockout finals match & the first outside USA. Sabalanka on the other hand will get another chance to hopefully take home the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy for the second time tomorrow night on what has been a tremendous win last night the opponent she lost at the US Open Final a few months ago. She was outstanding all along where Sabalanka fired off comfortably before she eventually found her opponent’s weaknesses while Gauff caught up as the game goes on & then tricks her during each and every stage, which is exactly she wants to do to set the benchmark for AO title win No.2 v Zheng.

Speaking of Zheng, the 21-year-old Chinese player will now be playing in first grand slam final as Li Na has last done so here back in 2014 with the big win v Lucie Safarova. She simply found a way to get the ball rolling to win the other half form that Yastremska couldn’t do after a slow start before Zheng didn’t hesitate to lose her game where she found the finish line first for the win. And Yastremska’s time is now over after a great fairytale run from the bottom up prior to this at Melbourne Park, having got a strong build up base to get off the mark including an improved 2nd set performance. But unfortunately, she wasn’t quite close as she hoped for when it comes to the execution, which is a key area she has struggled v Zheng. Let’s hope she can continue to inspire more with a consistent last 16/8 run from here.

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2024 AO Open Tennis, 2nd half of Quarter-Final matches review with back-to-back long sets as well as first time moments in the women’s singles ahead of the semis tonight

by Sports Benches

It was a huge day of Tennis yesterday on what has been a great end to the 2nd half of the Austtalian Open Quarter-Final matches at Rod Laver Arena with back-to-back long spells for the men while there’s some first time breakthrough moments ahead of tonight’s semi-finals in the women’s singles draw followed by a day of the men’s portion on Australia Day Friday.

First of all, Hubert Hurkacz never gave up without a fight including some incredible fight backs to stay in this match. However, Daniil Medvedev has found the great escape just exactly a minute before the four hour mark. The Pole had a great record over the last two years here but this was his 2nd finals match since the 2021 Wimbledon semi-final as he looks to kick on from here in the next grand slam showings as a regular last 16-8 contender. Plus, Alexander Zverev has eliminated 2nd seed Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz by surprise where he got the job done following an unreal 1st half performance with the 3-1 set win. Didn’t see that coming when the 2 x grand slam champion was the favourite to win this one but not only he fired off poorly but was so far behind for the majority despite some good shots in the latter stages. It remains to be seen if Zverev can find a way to beat Medvedev & have the best shot of being in the Final again since the 2020 US Open where he lost to Austrian Dominic Thiem.

Meanwhile in the women, the rising star 19-year-old Linda Noskova’s time was over at the hands of Dayana Yastremska in straight sets. The Czech got a great start to kick things off including the restart but struggled to bridge the other half unfortunately where Yastremska got the upper hand. From Qualifier to now Top 4, she is now one step away from Saturday’s final where beating Zhang & then maybe taking home the trophy would be a fairytale ending from the bottom up to reaching the highest levels in this draw like Emma Raducanu did in the 2021 US Open. And 12th seed Qinwen Zheng from China has overcame a tight 1st set loss on what been a great comeback win v Anna Kalinskaya. Kalinskaya wasn’t bad on her first grand slam knockout match after some highlight wins v Sloane Stephens & 26th seed Italian Jasmine Paolini beforehand with a close 1st set lead. But unfortunately she could not stay ahead & hang in there a bit longer whilst leading up front when Zheng closed in from behind to see her eliminated from the last 8. Zheng is coming off the back end of last year as a first time finalist at the US Open where he could face Aryna Sabalenka again but this time for the final if she can get the job done tonight.

Tonight’s matches Coco Gauff v Aryna Sabalanka again having last met at the US Open Final a few months ago before Yastremska takes on Zhang where one of them will advance on centre stage this Saturday. For Friday, it will be Novak Djokovic v Jannik Sinner followed by Medvedev & Zverev as all three have yet to win a AO trophy here except Novak.

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AO Open 2024, Coco Gauff escapes a gruelling Marta Kostyuk challenger after a three hour, three set win this afternoon 

by Sports Benches

What a way to start the Quarter-Finals with the three hour, three set thriller between Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk & Coco Gauff from the USA where both players fought so hard with back-to-back tiebreaks as Gauff led the first set while Kostyuk activated the 3rd set tiebreaker at 1-1 apiece. But at the end of the day, the match belongs to Gauff who was too good to pull it off towards the finish line for both the win & the semi-final spot, despite 1-2 late consolation games from her opponent. The final score was 6-7 with 6-8 tie, 7-6 with 7-3 tie & 2-6 as Gauff will be tuning into tonight’s 2nd women’s singles quarter-finals match where Barbora Krejcikova (Czech Republic) or reigning AO champ Aryna Sabalanka (Belarus) will meet her next on Thursday.

It’s been a great journey from the show courts to playing at the main event stage but her time has now came to an end where Kostyuk showed lots of fight to give Gauff a hard time along the way. She narrowly lost the first set and narrowly won back in the hope of continuing her fairlytale run into Thursday’s semi-finals night. But unfortunately, she was outrun so fast before being eliminated from this tournament despite picking it up some games towards the end there. She did Ukraine proud as Kostyuk has age by her side at 21 with lots of potential to hopefully fulfill throughout this year’s tennis season. And Gauff is not done yet following a long afternoon out with the win on her first AO knockout finals campaign. She had some tough challenges here & there where Kostyuk does not give her a free run despite picking up some good points. But her fightback and patience has paid off where she finally found a way out to steer away & into the homestretch from her opponent after sharing the lead with Kostyuk at 1-1. Looks like she’s ready for more where winning another grand slam away from home would be great. She has defeated Sabalenka before en route towards her first grand slam title on home soil (US Open) back in September 2023 & Gauff is ready to do it again in order for this to happen if Krejcikova is out tonight.

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Qualifier Dayana Yastremska def. former AO champion Victoria Azarenka as she will now take on emerging grand slam star in Linda Noskova for the Quarter-Final

by Sports Benches

Here’s an amazing match by the Ukrainian Qualifier Dayana Yastremska today where her straight sets win in the Round of 16 v 2012-13 Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) has put her through into the Quarter-Final for the first time, 6-7 with 6-8 tiebreaker & 4-6. We know she has played in the fourth round once before back in 2019 at Wimbledon but Dayana still has plenty of potential to prove against an experienced grand slam winner. Not only she got away with a close 1-0 lead but the Ukrainian did not throw her game away where it paid off big time towards the end. Now she will take on a rising star in 19-year-old Linda Noskova from Czech Republic, who saw fellow Ukrainian Elina Svitolina retire hurt (back) via walkover also today, having eliminated top seed Iga Swiatek by surprise from the opening set down during the 3rd round. But Dayana can too respond so fast like she did against Emma Navarro two days ago, so this court could be hers to take all the way this week.

Meanwhile, Azarenka always wanted to prove what it takes to dominate at Melbourne Park having got an excellent track record that includes the last two years. But today wasn’t her day unfortunately despite a great start and the effort to stay in this fight & if she just held off a bit longer when it comes to the execution, then we would’ve seen another amazing Azarenka display going into the last 8. This is her favourite place to play with 2 x Australian Open trophies to her name over the last decade as she’s not done playing just yet even having her six-year old son by her side at the age of 34.

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Dayana Yastremska fires off and then rebounds fast after losing the 2nd set to eliminate 27th seed Emma Navarro for the 4R earlier this afternoon at John Cain Arena

by Sports Benches

Here’s one of the highlight matches to look back earlier in the 2nd half of 3rd Round women’s singles matches this afternoon when Dayana Yastremska knocked down 27th seed American Emma Navarro after a quick three-set showdown (2-6, 6-2 & 1-6) at John Cain Arena. Dayana’s next opponent on Monday for the fourth round will either be Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko who eliminated Australia’s Ajla Tomjlanovic in the 2nd round or 2012-13 winner Victoria Azarenka from Belarus.

That was really quick for both players who fought back and fourth at every turn but one of them has to advance while another will need to leave and it’s one of the Top 30 seeders in Navarro. She was so good to respond by bringing it into a 3rd set decider after a poor start before the American lost her way once again and that was the writing on the wall towards the end there. This is her best grand slam result so far, having won some ITF tournaments last year as well as Navarro’s first WTA title a few weeks ago at Hobart International. So plenty of time to kick on and have a better impact from there at age 22. Meanwhile, it’s been a long time coming even though the Ukrainian is 23 as this is the second time that Yastremska will be playing in the fourth round since Wimbledon back in 2019. She was on the move that fast to get the ball rolling & although she would have loved to get the job done in straight sets, but still, Yastremska took her time to regroup herself with another quickfire winning set during the decider to bring this game to a close. After languishing between the Qualifers & 1st round last year, she is playing her best tennis at the moment where a last 8 breakthrough would mean a lot to her by flying the flag for Ukraine.

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Tennis News, Ash Barty’s bid to win the Australian Open on home soil in 2022 kicks off with an easy 1st Round win v Lesia Tsurenko at Rod Laver Arena

by Sports Benches

Ash Barty’s bid to win the Australian Open at home began with a super-easy Round 1 tie v Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko at Rod Laver Arena, she wrapped this up in just under one hour through straight sets (6-0, 6-1) as her next opponent for Round 2 will be Qualifier Lucia Bronzetti from Italy.

She’s done it from top to bottom which is what her fans have paid for to see her play at Center Court, better to take it one tie at a time before that ultimate dream will come as her best finish here was the Semi-Finals in 2020 and Quarter-Finals last year.

It’s always for Tsurenko tough to break down against such an elite opponent which is something anyone will not like to face as she’s already eliminated here in Melbourne, she did take a game or two but then it’s Barty at the same time pulling it off by more than a mile towards the homestretch.

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