Barty reaches Aus Open final; ends 1 drought, 1 to go

With a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Madison Keys, Ash Barty ended a long drought by reaching the Australian Open final.

She has one more to go.

Since Wendy Turnbull in 1980, Barty is the first Australian woman to reach the singles final at her home Grand Slam tournament. Since Chris O’Neil in 1978, no Australian has won the title.

On her journey to the semifinals, top-ranked Barty gave up only 17 games and continued her good form with another dominant performance against 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Keys.

Barty has won major titles on grass at Wimbledon and clay at the French Open, and he is just one victory away from adding a hard court trophy.

The farewell party for tennis legend Dylan Alcott was ruined when he lost in the wheelchair quad final to Sam Schroder of the Netherlands.

After a hectic 48 hours, the 2022 Australian of the Year was defeated 7-5, 6-0 by Schroder in the Rod Laver Arena final on Thursday.

Alcott, 31, revealed before the match that he was “fried” after rushing to Canberra, Australia’s capital, on Tuesday night following his semifinal victory, soaking up the Australia Day honor and preparing for what he called his “last dance.”

Alcott has won 15 Grand Slam titles in his career. He won all four championships in the wheelchair quad as well as the Tokyo Paralympics event last year, completing a historic Golden Slam.

On Saturday at Melbourne Park, the men’s doubles final will be an all-Australian affair.

The “Special K” duo of Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis defeated the third-seeded pair of Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 7-6 (4), 6-4.

It took place in front of a nearly sold-out Rod Laver Arena, with many supporters admitting for free using their Melbourne Park grounds passes.

Fellow Australians Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell overcame the second-seeded duo of Rajeev Ram of the United States and Joe Salisbury of the United Kingdom 6-3, 7-6 (9), saving four match points in the second set, on an adjacent near-empty Margaret Court Arena.

The mixed doubles finalists have been determined at Melbourne Park, with Jaimee Fourlis and Jason Kubler, an Australian wild-card entry, poised to compete in Friday’s final after a dramatic semifinal conclusion.

Fourlis and Kubler resumed their unusual run in a match that ended around 2 a.m. on Thursday due to the marathon men’s quarterfinal between Daniil Medvedev and Felix Auger-Aliassime, which Medvedev won in five sets.

After saving a match point, the pair beat Lucie Hradecka and Gonzalo Escobar 2-6, 7-6 (2), 10-6 to advance to the championship match.

“I swear, I didn’t wake up until after the first set,” Kubler admitted.

Kristina Mladenovic and Ivan Dodig, who defeated Zhang Shuai and John Peers in the other quarterfinal, will meet the Australians.