Garbiñe Muguruza was taken the first set in a tiebreaker in her Australian Open semifinal against Simona Halep
MELBOURNE, Australia —
The Latest on the Australian Open (all times local):
5:45 p.m.
Garbiñe Muguruza was taken the first set in a tiebreaker in her Australian Open semifinal against Simona Halep.
The unseeded Muguruza broke in the seventh game and fended off a break-point chance in the next to hold for a 5-3 lead. She was broken at love while serving for the set, then saved two set points in her next service game.
Fourth-seeded Halep had another two set points in the tiebreaker before Muguruza clinched it 7-6 (8). Wimbledon champion Halep was given a code violation for spiking her racket into the court at the end of the set as the temperature hit 39 Celsius (102 Fahrenheit).The winner will meet No. 14 Sofia Kenin in Saturday’s final. Kenin reached a major final for the first time with a straight sets win over top-ranked Ash Barty.
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4 p.m.
Sofia Kenin of the United States has reached her first Grand Slam final by upsetting No. 1 Ash Barty at the Australian Open.
Kenin saved two set points in each set en route to the 7-6 (6), 7-5 victory in the semifinals at Melbourne Park.
The 14th-seeded Kenin had never been past the fourth round at a major tournament until now.
Barty was trying to become the first Australian woman to reach the final of the country’s Grand Slam tournament since 1980.
Kenin will face Simona Halep or Garbiñe Muguruza on Saturday.
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3:15 p.m.
Sofia Kenin saved two set points in the tiebreaker before taking the first set of the Australian Open’s women’s semifinal against Ash Barty 7-6 (6).
There were no service breaks, with 21-year-old Kenin fending off three break points in a long sixth game for an important hold as the temperature topped 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) at Melbourne Park.
The 14th-seeded Kenin is playing in the semifinals of a major for the first time.
Top-ranked Barty is the first Australian woman in the Australian Open semifinals since Wendy Turnbull in 1984. She’s aiming to be the first Australian to win a home major since 1978, when Chris O’Neil won the women’s title.———
2:20 p.m.
Hsieh Su-wei is set to return to the WTA’s No. 1 doubles ranking for the first time in five years after combining with Barbora Strycova to reach the final of the Australian Open.
Hsieh, from Taiwan first held the top ranking in 2014.
She will overtake her current doubles partner Strycova when the rankings are released Monday. The team has won five titles together over the last year, including Wimbledon and the WTA Finals.
Hsieh and Strycova will play second-seeded Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic in Friday’s final at Melbourne Park.
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1:55 p.m.
Max Purcell and Luke Saville have reached the Australian Open doubles final, giving the host nation a chance at grabbing the title for the first time in 22 years.
The Australian pair, who got a wild-card entry for the tournament, edged fourth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Filip Polasek of Slovakia 6-7 (7), 6-3, 6-4 in their semifinal.
They’re vying to be the first Australians to win the Australian Open men’s doubles title since Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde in 1998 when they play 11th-seeded Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the final. Ram of the U.S. and Salisbury of Britain advanced to the final by beating Kazakhstan duo Alexander Bublik and Mikhail Kukushkin 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 .
Saville is coached by Craig Tyzzer, who steered Australian Ash Barty to the women’s No. 1 ranking. Barty was playing in the women’s singles semifinal against American Sofia Kenin in the following match on Rod Laver Arena.
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