Johanna Konta to play Agnieszka Radwanska in Sydney International Final
Sydney: Johanna Konta blasted Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets to set up a Sydney International final with Agnieszka Radwanska on Thursday. The British sixth seed dominated her evening semifinal with the former Wimbledon finalist, winning 6-2, 6-2 in 68 minutes.
She will face Polish second seed Radwanska, who is one win away from her second Sydney title after crushing a fatigued Barbora Strycova 6-1, 6-2.
It will be 25-year-old Konta’s third career WTA Tour final after winning in Stanford and a runner-up in Beijing last year. Radwanska, the 2013 champion, was too clinical for the 19th-ranked Czech, who was showing the draining effects of the four hours and 22 minutes on court in her Wednesday’s singles and doubles matches.
Evans stuns top seed Thiem
It was a big night for Britain on Ken Rosewall Arena with Daniel Evans beating the top seed Dominic Thiem 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to reach Friday’s men’s semifinal before Konta’s smashing win over Bouchard.
It was the 26-year-old Briton’s first win over a top-10 ranked player and it will be his second ATP World Tour semi-final since Zagreb in 2014. Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller reached his third-straight semis with a big-serving straight sets victory over second seed Pablo Cuevas on Thursday.
Muller thundered down 17 aces in ousting the Uruguayan 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 and will face two-time defending champion Viktor Troicki in Friday’s semis.
Troicki, on a 13-match winning streak in Sydney, advanced to the last four after German Philipp Kohlschreiber withdrew before their match citing a lower back injury.
Russian Andrey Kuznetsov overcame Spanish fourth seed Pablo Carreno Busta 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 and will face the 67th-ranked Evans in the other semifinal.
Isner joins exodus of seeds
Auckland: Two-time champion John Isner joined the exodus of seeds from the ATP Auckland Classic in New Zealand on Thursday, leaving the race for the title wide open.
Second seed Isner, the winner in 2010 and 2014, fell 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (3) in the quarter-finals to fellow American Steve Johnson.
American world number 23 Jack Sock, the fourth seed, was the highest ranked player to make the semis, where he will face Johnson.
Sock downed Jeremy Chardy 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, setting up an incredible 25 break points against the dogged Frenchman, whose resistance slowly crumbled after he claimed the first set.
On the other side of the draw, Marcos Baghdatis had no trouble brushing aside Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4. Joao enjoyed a straight-forward victory.
