Kenin reaches final
American ousts local favorite Barty
Sofia Kenin never flinched. Not when she was twice a point from dropping the opening set of her first Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open. Not when she was twice a point from dropping the second set, either.
And the American is into her first major final at age 21 -- beating the woman ranked No. 1, Ash Barty, to get there. Now Kenin will need to beat a former No. 1, Garbiñe Muguruza, to grab the trophy.
Kenin saved a total of four set points to stop home hope Barty’s bid to give Australia a long-awaited singles champion at Melbourne Park, pulling out a 7-6 (6), 7-5 victory on a stiflingly hot Thursday.
“I was telling myself: ‘I believe in myself. If I lose the set, I’m still going to come out and believe,’” said the 14th-seeded Kenin, who never had been past the fourth round at a major. “Yeah, I really did a great job with it. I didn’t give up.”
Muguruza fended off four set points in the opener of her semifinal and wound up defeating No. 4 Simona Halep 7-6 (8), 7-5 in a matchup of players who have won Wimbledon and the French Open but not the Australian Open.
It was a streaky contest: Muguruza led 5-3 in the first set before Halep took 15 of 17 points to earn a pair of set points. Muguruza then took seven consecutive points. And so on, until Halep put a shot in the net to relinquish that set, then smashed her racket and sat on the sideline, shaking her head.
“I think I played many top-10 players in a row, got the victories. Definitely it’s a sign that my tennis is good,” Muguruza said. “Doesn’t matter how many Grand Slams you have. Even if you have 15 Grand Slams, you go out there and you have somebody that can beat you.
“Excited to have one more match here.”
Barty — who won the French Open last June, beating Kenin along the way — was hardly at her best Thursday, especially at the most crucial moments. Maybe she was burdened by the task of trying to become the first Australian woman since 1980 to get to the final of the country’s Grand Slam.
“Unfortunately, couldn’t quite scrap enough to get over the line,” said Barty, who held her niece on her lap at the post-match news conference. “Just didn’t play the biggest points well enough to win.”
Instead, Kenin is the first American other than a Williams sister to reach the Australian Open final since Lindsay Davenport in 2005. And Kenin is the first American woman to beat the No. 1 player at any major since Serena topped Venus at Wimbledon in 2002.
“She has the ability to adapt,” Barty said. “She’s extremely confident at the moment, as well.”
Those inside the sport know. But Kenin has been overshadowed by some of the many other American women making waves in recent years.
“I mean, yeah, I know people haven’t really paid attention much to me in the past. I had to establish myself, and I have,” Kenin said. “Of course, now I’m getting the attention, which I like it. Not going to lie.”
Djokovic tops Federer
Novak Djokovic was wondering, right along with everyone else, what sort of shape Roger Federer would be in for their Australian Open semifinal.
At age 38, despite dealing with a painful groin muscle and coming off a draining five-setter, Federer came out just fine, it seemed, and soon was up 4-1 and love-40, holding a trio of break chances as Djokovic served.
Didn’t last. Federer couldn’t sustain that level. Neither his body nor
Djokovic would let him.
Casting aside a bit of a poor start during the rivals’ 50th meeting, Djokovic stretched his Grand Slam winning streak against Federer to six in a row with a 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-3 victory Thursday night that earned the defending champion a record eighth trip to the final at Melbourne Park.
“Today was horrible, to go through what I did. Nice entrance. Nice sendoff. And in between, it’s one to forget, because you know you have a 3% chance to win,” Federer said, adding that he discussed beforehand with his team how bad things would need to get for him to stop playing. “Once you can see it coming, that it’s not going to work anymore, it’s tough.”
Djokovic now leads their head-tohead series 27-23, including 11-6 at majors. Federer hasn’t beaten him at one of the sport’s four most important tournaments since 2012.
“I just want to say, respect to Roger for coming out tonight. He was obviously hurt,” Djokovic said. “Wasn’t at his best.”
The No. 2-seeded Djokovic will try to collect a record-extending eighth Australian Open title on Sunday against No. 5 Dominic Thiem or No. 7 Alexander Zverev.
Djokovic also can claim a 17th major trophy overall to move closer to Federer’s record of 20. Rafael Nadal, beaten by Thiem in the quarterfinals, is at 19.