ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Third-seeded Sebastian Korda advanced to the semifinals at the Adelaide International for the second year in a row after beating Australian wild-card entry Christopher O’Connell 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday.
The 23-year-old American made last year’s final in Adelaide, where he lost to top-seeded Novak Djokovic in three sets after blowing a championship point.
Sixth-seeded and 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko advanced to the WTA semifinals with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Marta Kostyuk in Adelaide.
“It was a tough match, of course, but finally I won in two sets, I managed it,” Ostapenko said on court. “I feel like I was striking the ball well today. Even in the first set when it was 5-2 to 5-5, I still was playing my game, and then at the end I found it. Just happy to be through.”
Both top-seeded players were in quarterfinal action later in the ATP-WTA tournament. American Tommy Paul played Britain's Jack Draper and Elena Rybakina, last year’s Australian Open finalist and winner of the Brisbane International on Sunday, took on Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Ostapenko will face the winner of the Rybakina-Alexandrova match.
Adelaide is among the last tune-up events for the Australian Open, which starts Sunday in Melbourne.
MEHRTENS INTO SEMIS AT HOBART
Top-seeded Elise Mehrtens advanced to the semifinals of the Hobart International with a 7-5, 6-0 win over Arantxa Rus. Mehrtens is attempting to win her third Hobart title — the Belgian player won in Hobart in 2017 and 2018.
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