World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty fired a career-high 17 aces in a 6-3, 6-4 victory Friday against Sofia Kenin in the quarterfinals of the Adelaide International in Australia.
The top-seeded Australian won 31 of 32 points on her first serve and tallied more than twice as many winners (30) as unforced errors (14). The sixth-seeded Kenin faced break points in four of her nine service games.
Barty will face No. 5 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland in one semifinal. The other will see No. 7 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan take on unseeded Misaki Doi of Japan. Rybakina was a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 winner Friday against Shelby Rogers.
Melbourne Summer 1
Japan’s Naomi Osaka overcame a 4-2 deficit in the second set and advanced to the semifinals with a 6-1, 7-5 defeat of Germany’s Andrea Petkovic.
The top-seeded Osaka will take on No. 3 seed Veronika Kudermetova, a 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 winner against fellow Russian Anastasia Potapova.
The other semifinal features No. 2 seed Simona Halep of Romania against unseeded Zheng Qinwen of China. Halep defeated No. 6 Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, while Qinwen edged Croatia’s Ana Konjuh 7-6 (1), 7-6 (6).
Melbourne Summer 2
Third-seeded Russian Daria Kasatkina shook off a slow start against Spain’s Nuria Parrizas-Diaz 7-5, 6-1 and moved into the semifinals with a 7-5, 6-1 victory.
Kasatkina, who fell behind 4-2 in the first set before rallying, will face Amanda Anisimova. The unseeded American staged her own rally, beating Romania’s Irina Begu 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
The other semifinal pits No. 7 seed Ann Li against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus. Li was a 6-1, 7-5 winner against Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova. Sasnovich advanced with a 6-3, 2-0 walkover against No. 6 Clara Tauson of Denmark.
–Field Level Media
