Semifinals set in Hobart

After a completely rained out Wednesday, activity returned to Hobart’s Domain Tennis Centre on Thursday and no less than seven singles matches from the tournament’s second round & quarterfinals had to be completed in order to keep the tight schedule on track.

The washed out day before forced several players to play two singles matches in one day, because the nearing Australian Open next week leaves zero wiggle room in the schedule to postpone the planned Saturday final and all players are keen to leave for Melbourne as soon as possible.

Among those players successfully playing two matches today were Americans Alison Riske & Madison Brengle. While Riske got past Bojana Jovanoviski in a three-setter and bested Zarina Diyas in straight sets just hours later, Brengle had her work cut out for her on Thursday.

In the morning, the young American had to battle Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova. After Brengle took the first set in a swift fashion, Kozlova bounced back in the second, forcing a hotly-contested tiebreak that ended in the American’s favor. In the evening, Brengle faced off with Karin Knapp, the Italian was playing her second match as well after kicking out tournament top seed Casey Dellacqua during her morning match. The Italian-American battle was one of the day’s highlights as the night session match turned into a fierce three-set battle, ending in Brengle’s favor.

While two of the semifinalists had to go the long way on Thursday, life was a bit easier for Heather Watson and Kurumi Nara, who both played one match on Thursday to make the tournament’s round of the last four. While Watson comprehensively beat Italy’s Roberta Vinci, Nara got past another Italian as Camila Giorgi’s tournament run ended on Thursday.

It remains to be seen whether the additional on-court time will hinder the two American semifinalists on Friday as the 2015 Hobart International will come to an exciting conclusion in just two days!