It’s been another drama-filled day of action on Thursday at the Adelaide International 2.
Last week’s finalist and this week’s No. 3 seed Russian Karen Khachanov became the latest seed to be eliminated and Madison Brengle retired hurt with a calf injury in her all-American quarter-final against Alison Riske.
Khachanov lost to Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 6-7(7), 5-7 in the quarter-finals. He followed No. 1 seed Gael Monfils out the door, who withdrew on Wednesday due to a neck injury while fifth seed Lloyd Harris lost his first-round match on Monday.
Rinderknech has now set up an all-French semi-final with qualifier Corentin Moutet who was too strong for Brazilian lucky-loser Thiago Monteiro 6-4, 6-4.
Fourth seed Marin Cilic will play the winner of tonight’s all-Aussie final between Thanasi Kokkinakis and Aleksandar Vukic after he defeated American Tommy Paul in an epic match that went for one hour and 54 minutes 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.
17-year-old No. 3 seed Coco Gauff defeated Croatian Ana Konjuh 6-3, 6-4 and will take on the winner of tonight’s quarter-final match between in-form American Madison Keys and Russian No. 8 seed Liudmila Samsonova.
“Yeah, I've been feeling super good my whole two weeks so far in Adelaide,” Gauff said post-match.
“I'm hoping to continue that momentum through the rest of this tournament and through all the Australian Open.
“I'm super excited for this year. I really do feel like I had a good pre-season and I feel really confident on the court.
“Even though like the pre-season was two months, I feel like I improved so much during those couple months of training. I'm hoping that I can show that to you guys and show that to myself in the matches.”
Fellow American Alison Riske’s opponent and Madison Brengle retired hurt at 3-3 in the first set, paving the way for Riske to enter the semifinals where she will face Tamara Zidansek.
A day after defeating Aussie Maddison Inglis in straight sets 6-2, 6-1, Zidansek had a much harder challenge today.
The Slovenian eventually got over the top of American surprise packet Lauren Davis in an epic match 7-6(4), 7-6(7) that went for two hours and 10 minutes.
In men’s doubles quarter-finals action, Aussies Thomas Fancutt and Aaron Addison put up a terrific performance but eventually went down 6-3, 5-7, 10-6 to the No. 6 seeds and Adelaide International 1 doubles semi-finalists Gonzalo Escobar (Ecuador) and Ariel Behar (Uruguay).
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