World number one Ash Barty delighted the Memorial Drive crowd by breezing through to the Adelaide International semi-finals with a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 victory over Sofia Kenin on Friday.
Barty, the 2020 Adelaide champion, dominated from the start and showed no signs of the rust on display in her win over Coco Gauff in the previous round of the Australian Open warm-up event.
In their first meeting since Kenin upset Barty in the 2020 Australian Open semi-final, the American struggled with her serve while her top ranked opponent was nearly flawless, producing 17 aces and winning 31 of 32 first serve points.
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Barty notched the crucial break midway through the opening set and carried that momentum through to the second, wrapping up the win in just over an hour without facing a single break point.
"I felt pretty good today. I was able to look after my service games pretty well and it was a lot of fun playing out here and getting more court time," Barty said.
"It's nice to come out here and be tested from the start and know that you need to bring your very best level. Looking at these last two matches, there's still work to do."
Earlier on Friday, seventh seed Elena Rybakina fought back from a set down to prevail 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her quarter-final against American Shelby Rogers.
Rogers, who knocked out sixth seed Maria Sakkari in the previous round of the WTA 500 event, raced 4-1 ahead before closing out a strong opening set but Rybakina got the only break in the second and carried that lead to force a decider.
Rybakina won 90 per cent of her first serve points in the final set and sent down five aces en route to closing out the win in just over two hours. She will face Japan's Misaki Doi, who beat Slovenian Kaja Juvan 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (5), for a place in the final.
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Defending champion Iga Swiatek takes on two-times Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka later on Friday.
Nadal, the 20-time Grand Slam singles champion, advanced without taking the court when his Dutch opponent Tallon Griekspoor withdrew.
It was only one day after Nadal played and won his first competitive match in five months, beating Ricardas Berankis in straight sets.
Nadal will play unseeded Emil Ruusuvuori on Saturday for a place in the final. Ruusuvuori earlier beat Alex Molcan 6-2, 6-1.
In other men’s play on Friday, Marin Cilic and top-seeded Gael Monfils won their quarterfinals at the Adelaide International. Cilic beat Laslo Djere 6-3, 6-2 and Monfils defeated sixth-seeded Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-1.
Top-seeded Naomi Osaka and second-seeded Simona Halep advanced to the semifinals of the Summer Set 1 tune-up event in Melbourne. Osaka beat Andre Petkovic 6-1, 7-5 while Halep defeated Viktorija Golubic 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
Despite the win, Halep was her usual critical self.
“Nothing was working today,” Halep said in her on-court interview. “I fought with myself a lot and found it difficult to control my emotions but she put me in this situation and put pressure on me. But if you want to win, you don’t give up.”
In quarterfinal play of the WTA's Summer Set 2 in Melbourne, Amanda Anisimova beat Irina-Camelia Begu 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 and Daria Kasatkina had a 7-5, 6-1 win over Nuria Parrizas Diaz.
The Adelaide and Melbourne tournaments are two of six tune-up events being staged in Australia this week ahead of the season-opening major at Melbourne Park, which starts on Jan. 17.
(with inputs from AP)
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