World No.19 Ashleigh Barty and world No.22 Angelique Kerber advanced to the final of the Sydney International on Friday and our photographer Jimmie48 was right there to bring us fresh photos of their semifinal matches.
In a match featuring Australia’s top-ranked players, Barty, who held serve just once in the first set, overcame a slow start to claim a 3-6 6-4 6-2 victory over Daria Gavrilova. By the way, Fila announced today that it has extended its sponsorship deal with Barty and in Sydney we can see the 21-year-old sporting the brand’s Fall Heritage collection.
Former WTA No.1 Kerber stopped 100th-ranked Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi 6-2 6-3, whose run in Sydney included defeats of reigning US Open champion Sloane Stephens, twice Wimbledon and former Sydney champion Petra Kvitova and last year’s runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska. Earning her eighth win in as many matches, Kerber had to overcome a 3-0 40-15 deficit in the second set.
Friday’s schedule also featured doubles final in which third-seeded Gabriela Dabrowski and Xu Yifan dismissed top seeds Latisha Chan and Andrea Sestini Hlavackova 6-3 6-1.
MORE SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL 2018 PHOTOS:
- Thursday: Barty, Kerber, Giorgi complete semifinal field
- Wednesday: Gavrilova leaps into semifinals as Muguruza withdraws
- Tuesday: Kerber conquers Venus, Radwanska beats Konta
- Monday: Kvitova, Kerber progress, Stephens loses in singles and doubles
- Sunday: Ostapenko dumped in round one
