The 11th day of the Australian Open 2020 was loaded with drama and action. On the men’s side Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer met for a 50th time. Two women’s heavy favourites Simona Halep and Ash Barty were also shown exit doors. Let’s recap all the action from Rod Laver arena as 3 spots for the Australian Open 2020 singles finals were booked.
Djokovic v Federer
World Number 2 Novak Djokovic and World Number 3 Roger Federer met for the 50th time in their career, with a place in the Australian Open final up for grabs. The pair was meeting for the 5th time at Rod Laver arena. Their 1st meeting was 13 years back in 2007. Novak was the pre match favorite to win the contest but Roger showed his intentions early. He broke Djokovic in the early stages of 1st set and even was near to getting the double break.
Federer served for the set but his nerves would draw errors. Djokovic, the man with nerves of steel got the break back. He then took the set to a tie-breaker. The Serb was clearly a better player in the crucial tie breaker. He won it 7 games to 1 thus getting a crucial early advantage over his Swiss rival.
From then on it was literally one-way traffic as Federer was suffering with his movement and Djokovic raising his game. The Serb won the next 2 sets 6-4 and 6-3. He has now put himself in the 8th Australian Open final. On Sunday Djokovic would face either Thiem or Zverev en-route to his 8th title at Melbourne Park. A win would take Novak’s slam count to 17 and also ensure that he gets back the World Number 1 ranking from Spain’s Rafael Nadal.
Barty v Kenin
The WTA World Number 1 and local favourite Ash Barty collided with World Number 15 Sofia Kenin of the United States. Barty was the strong favorite as she has already been a Grand Slam champion. Kenin on the other side was in her 1st Grand Slam semi-final.
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The match started with no player giving the opponent an inch on the serve. The 1st set eventually went to a tie breaker. Kenin won the breaker narrowly 8 games to 6 and took the 1st set, wrestling early advantage. The 2nd set also appeared to be going to a tie breaker. However, Sofia Kenin would break at the back end of the set and take it 7 games to 5. Kenin was in disbelief as she had dethroned the crowd favorite and World Number 1 Ash Barty and now got a place in her 1st Grand Slam final.
Muguruza v Halep
There was very less to separate Garbine Muguruza of Spain and Simona Halep of Romania at the start. Both ladies have been World Number 1 in WTA rankings. They have both been past winners at the French Open and Wimbledon. However, recent form separated them by 29 places in the WTA ranking. That made 3rd seeded Halep a strong favorite over the current World Number 32 Muguruza.
The Spanish lady who is on the road to career resurgence was looking better player on the day. Muguruza remained neck to neck with Halep for most of the 1st set before clinching a hard fought tie breaker 10 games to 8. The early advantage would boost her confidence but Halep was determined to not go out so easily. As the 2nd set progressed towards the tie breaker Garbine Muguruza broke Simona Halep at took the match in 2 hard fought sets. Her date with destiny was booked and the Spanish starlet looked totally in disbelief.
This all we have for you about the highlights of 3 singles semi-final matches at the Rod Laver arena in Melbourne Park. We will be back tomorrow as two young guns Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev take on each other. At the moment, we leave you with the battle thoughts of that highly anticipated contest.