Hobart International
Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard took just 68 minutes to storm into the semi-finals of the rain-interrupted Hobart International on Thursday.
The former world number five came on the court late in the evening after hours of rain delays to inflict a 6-3, 6-2 win over Italian second seed Camila Giorgi.
Bouchard set up a semi-final Friday with world No 37 and third seed Dominika Cibulkova of the Slovak Republic.
“I’m happy I was able to have a lot of energy considering how long we waited today,” Bouchard said.
She said staying mentally prepared for the match during the frustrating rain delays was one of the toughest challenges.
“I tried not to think too much about it (the match). I don’t want to play the match five times over in my head before I actually step out onto the court.
“But it’s the same for both players so I can’t really complain, that is the way tennis is. You can’t compete against mother nature.”
Cibulkova overcame Dutch qualifier Kiki Bertens, 7-5, 6-3 in a match that spanned more than seven hours, including three lengthy rain interruptions.
“The conditions were really tough,” the Slovak told reporters.
“I don’t remember that I have such tough conditions and match and starting and stopping so many times and today was really a mental thing.
“I came back three times on the court and I won even stronger than I was before.”
France’s Alize Cornet strolled into the semis without playing a shot after her ninth seeded German opponent Mona Barthel withdrew before their match with a back injury.
Barthel sustained the injury during her previous match against Japan’s Naomi Osaka.
Cornet will play Swede Johanna Larsson, who overcame exhausted defending champion Heather Watson in the early hours of Friday.
Watson won her held-over second round match 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) and saved three match points in the process against Romanian fourth seed Monica Niculescu.
Then she came out near midnight on a cold night but could not sustain her form after winning the opening set to bow out 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Larsson in two hours 12 minutes.
Auckland Classic
David Ferrer provided the class while Jack Sock played on his name with a victory giveaway as the ATP Auckland Classic semi-finalists sorted themselves out on Thursday.
Top seed Ferrer and No 2 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga moved into the final four with straight sets wins to join Sock and Roberto Bautista Agus who both took three sets to upset Kevin Anderson and John Isner respectively.
Sock recovered from a string of early unforced errors to beat Anderson 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 and celebrated the victory by starting what he says will become his win tradition: a sock giveaway.
“It feels great,” said the 23-year-old American who survived 14 aces by Anderson.
“He came out serving really well. He didn’t miss many first serves, didn’t let me get in the match.
“I knew it was going to be tough, but I was able to get in a little bit of a rhythm on returns and lucky enough to get a win.”
Sock, ranked 26th to Anderson’s 12, cutback on the error count after the disappointing first set and won the match on a service break and celebrated by throwing a sock into the crowd.
“I think with such a unique name that I have, we figured I might start a new tradition and give a sock away if I win,” he said.
“I did it real quick. I just turned around and threw it to some guy. I think I need to go out and play it up a little more, hold it up and see who wants it. Whoever wants a really sweaty sock can have it.”
Sock faces top seed Ferrer in the semi-finals after the Spaniard whipped Czech Lukas Rosol 6-3, 6-4.
Bautista Agut, beaten by Isner in the Auckland semi-finals two years ago, turned the tables with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 victory over the third seed.
“I had revenge today,” said the Spaniard, who is ranked 25th, 14 places behind Isner.
Bautista Agut will play Tsonga in the semi-finals after the Frenchman’s 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) win over Fabio Fognini.
Sydney International
A violent thunderstorm and persistent rain prevented any of the scheduled singles tennis matches from being completed on women’s semi-final and men’s quarter-finals day at the Sydney International on Thursday.
Simona Halep, the second seed for next week's Australian Open, was one of a string of top players whose hopes of getting a good workout before the year's opening grand slam were stymied by the weather.
The Romanian top seed was leading 5-4 in the opening set of her semi-final encounter with one of her predecessors as world No 2, Svetlana Kuznetsova, when the rain stopped played for the second and final time for the day.
Costa Rican qualifier Monica Puig had even more reason to be frustrated by the weather as she had raced to a 4-0, 15-0 lead in her final-four match against Swiss Belinda Bencic.
Weather permitting, both women’s semi-finals and all four men’s quarter-finals will be completed after a morning start on Friday, with the women’s final and men’s last four contests following in the evening.
Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov got closest to a victory on Thursday, having come from a set down to lead his quarter-final against Alexandr Dolgopolov 4-6 6-3 4-2.
The match started in the stifling early afternoon heat, and Dimitrov shattered his racket on the court in frustration after shanking a return to lose the first set.
The storm stopped play before the second set could get under way, but Dimitrov quickly got the upper hand when the action resumed to even up the contest and race into the lead in the decider.
More showers are forecast for Friday but the chance of rain is predicted to decrease significantly in the late afternoon.
Kooyong Classic
Marcos Baghdatis warmed up for the Australian Open with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu on Thursday at the Kooyong Classic, a decade after reaching his only grand slam final.
In 2006, the smiling Cypriot generated excitement with his run to the title match at Melbourne Park, where he lost to Roger Federer playing at the peak of his powers.
Baghdatis remains proud of his achievement.
“It was the best two weeks in my tennis life,” he said. “I have such great memories and sensations.
“It makes me happy to think about them, I’m always happy to be back playing in Australia.”
Baghdatis, ranked 48 in the world, defeated Mathieu with 28 winners but broke on only one of his eight chances.
The Frenchman saved a match point in the penultimate game of the second set before Baghdatis finished off victory in the next game with a passing winner down the line.
“I felt much better today on court, more explosive. I moved better and served better. It’s good to get in two matches before the Open,” said Baghdatis.
Meanwhile, Briton Kyle Edmund handed Australian teenager Omar Jasika a third loss at the Grand Slam tune-up event.
Edmund, who played the opening rubber in November as Britain won the Davis Cup over Belgium, defeated Jasika 6-3, 6-3 with temperatures were more than halved from a steamy 41 Celsius the day before.
He notched 21 winners and sent over eight aces while Jasika produced 43 unforced errors.
An Australian Open qualifier in 2015, Edmund said he was happy for any matches he could get leading to the Open on Monday.
“The more matches you play, the more comfortable you get. I have 12 months more experience now than I did last year,” he said.
The original 12-man event was thrown into disarray on Wednesday as Australian drawcard Nick Kyrgios quit his match with a foot injury and German Alexander Zverev then withdrew with a shoulder injury, forcing cancellation of his match against Edmund.
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