French Open champion Iga Swiatek yesterday advanced to the final of the Adelaide International with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Jil Teichmann.
The fifth-seeded Swiatek next plays second-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, who felled 16-year-old American Coco Gauff 7-6 (7/2), 6-7 (4/7), 6-2.
Swiatek was dominant in the opening set, breaking the Swiss left-hander’s serve in the fourth game. The 19-year-old Swiatek bothered her opponent with a series of powerful groundstrokes as Teichmann made a series of unforced errors — 13 in the first set.
Photo: AFP
Teichmann failed to convert a break point in the fourth game of the second set — her only one of the match — and it was a turning point.
Swiatek held serve, then broke the unseeded Teichmann’s serve the next two times to keep her perfect record for the tournament — she has not lost a set.
“I feel solid and that is the most important thing for me because when I play good I just enjoy everything,” Swiatek said.
Photo: AFP
OPEN SUD DE FRANCE
AP
Top-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut on Thursday swept aside French qualifier Gregoire Barrere 6-0, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of the Open Sud de France.
The Spanish veteran, who is chasing a 10th career title, won 100 percent of his first-serve points in the first set and broke Barrere’s serve three times in each.
Barrere leveled for 2-2 as they exchanged breaks early in the second set, but Bautista Agut broke him twice more, including in the last game.
The 32-year-old Spaniard next faces sixth-seeded Frenchman Ugo Humbert.
Dusan Lajovic, No. 3, and Hubert Hurkacz, No. 4, were both knocked out by unseeded players.
Lajovic lost 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 to Austrian David Novak and Hurkacz was beaten 7-5, 6-2 by Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Novak next plays German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk, who withstood 29 aces from Jiri Vesely and had 17 of his own in a 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 victory.
Davidovich Fokina faces unseeded Belarusian Egor Gerasimov, who beat Aljaz Bedene 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
Elsewhere in the ATP, Russia’s Daniil Medvedev next week has another opportunity to replace Rafa Nadal as the world No. 2 if he reaches the final of the ATP 500 event in Rotterdam.
Medvedev rose to a career high third in the ATP rankings on Monday after finishing runner-up to world No. 1 Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open. He would have moved above Nadal had he beaten the Serbian.
On Thursday, Nadal pulled out of the Rotterdam event due to a back injury, which forced the 20-time Grand Slam winner to skip Spain’s ATP Cup matches earlier this month.
Nadal’s withdrawal means Medvedev would be the top seed at next week’s event, which also features top-10 players Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev.
Should he reach the final, Medvedev would become the first player outside Djokovic, Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray to be ranked in the top two since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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