AUSTRALIAN OPEN: DAY 11

BATTLE OF TOP TEN SEEDS

[4] Naomi Osaka (JPN) defeated [7] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

THE LONE AMERICAN WOMAN BOWS OUT

American Danielle Collins’ Cinderella run came to an end in the semifinals of the Australian Open. Despite going up a break in the first, Collins could not sustain the quality of play required to win the set and she faded in the second set. [8] Petra Kvitova (CZE) won 6-7(2), 0-6.

Two top ten players will contest the Australian Open women’s final. Osaka will try to win her second consecutive major title, while Kvitova hopes to capture her third. The winner will be the new number one ranked female player on Monday.

NADAL DOMINANT AGAINST NEXT GEN STARS

[2] Rafael Nadal (ESP) defeated his third younger opponent of the tournament. In what was expected to be a highly competitive match, Nadal took the racquet out of the hands of his young opponent. Perhaps exhaustion caught up to [14] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE); after all, he got the win of his career two rounds earlier when he defeated Roger Federer. He had to be emotionally as well as physically depleted. He tried to fight back in the second set; however, he was unable to apply consistent pressure to Nadal.

Nadal won 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 and is into his fifth Australian Open final. Nadal knows that the battle is still to come, whether he plays the number one seed, Novak Djokovic, or the twenty-eighth seed, Lucas Pouille. However, expect Nadal to fight for his second Australian Open title as he would to capture his eighteenth major title overall. Needless to say, his opponent will be equally determined to capture the title as well.

SPECIAL MENTION

Americans Sam Querrey and Ryan Harrison, who teamed up to play doubles, lost in the semifinals to the fifth seeded French duo of P. Herbert/N. Mahut. The French team won 6-4, 6-2. They also defeated another American team in the previous round, the fourth seeded Bryan brothers.

SOURCE OF IMAGES: serveandrally original (Rafael Nadal and Petra Kvitova)