Kerber v Halep, Woznaicki v Mertens On SF Thursday At Austalian Open; Cilic-Edmund At Night
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It’s semifinal Thursday at the Australian Open. The women are on first with Caroline Wozniacki and Elise Mertens who each look for their first Australian Open semifinal.
Mertens enters her first Grand Slam semifinal riding a 9-match win streak, and she hasn’t dropped a set all event in her Melbourne debut.
“Of course everything is possible in tennis,” Mertens said. “If you believe in yourself, then anything can happen. But of course semis is ‘Wow.’
“But I’m ready for it. I mean, I have a lot of energy left. Mentally/physically good. I’m just going to give it all and see where it ends.”
Wozniacki, who saved two matchpoints against Jana Fett, is back to the semifinals in Australia for the first time since 2011, and she could leave not only with her first career Slam win, but also the No. 1 ranking.
“It feels great to be back here in the semifinals,” Wozniacki said. “It’s been a few years. Last time I was in the semifinals here, I had match points against Li Na. I lost it. That’s still haunting me till this day. So I’m hoping for a different result this time.”
The the second semi, 2016 champion Angelique Keber meets first-time Aussie semifinalist Simona Halep. After saving three matchpoints against Lauren Davis in the third round, Halep has been on fire. But Kerber, who leads Halep 4-3, looked dominant in a win yesterday over Madison Keys.
“I think it will be a long match with a lot of long rallies,” Kerber said of the match. “I played against her a lot of times, and it was always tough and close.”
In the evening, fresh off his stunning win over Rafael Nadal, Marin Cilic is back under the lights to take on British No. 2 Kyle Edmund. Edmund crushed the hopes of Grigor Dimitrov on Tuesday, and will look to do the same against the Croat who beat him in Shanghai last fall.
“Kyle had amazing run here,” said Cilic. “A lot of tough matches, played great tennis. He’s also very entertaining to watch. Big hitter, great serve, great forehand. Plays great on the hard courts.”
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