By Sportswriter Spencer Musick
WUHAN, China, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- In comparison to the roller-coaster ride seen throughout the week here at the Dongfeng Motors Wuhan Open, the singles semifinal round on Friday turned out to be a relatively straightforward affair, with Ashleigh Barty and Caroline Garcia advancing with straight-sets victories.
Barty was unstoppable on the way to her 6-3, 6-0 victory over 8th seeded Jelena Ostapenko, scoring 7 aces and 15 winners in as many games to enter her first final in a Premier 5 tournament.
The Australian established her dominance early in the match, nabbing an early break of Ostapenko's serve to storm to a 2-love lead. Ostapenko suffered two double faults in the third service game, and Barty would seize the momentum from that point onward, deploying her aggressive backhand and making creative use of the court to keep the Latvian chasing her shots. Three aces in a row for the Barty left little doubt as to the direction of the match as the first set drew to a close.
Barty stormed to yet another a 2-love lead right out of the gate in the second set, which she dominated entirely, never allowing her opponent a single break point. At 4-0, Barty responded to an Ostapenko backhand with a stellar drop shot which--more than any other single moment of the match--demonstrated just how comfortable the Australian has been on court here in Wuhan.
"I feel like I'm moving well on the court. The ball is obviously coming nicely off the racquet. I feel like I have full control of the ball, which in some conditions it's really tough to do. I'm really enjoying playing in these conditions," Barty said in the post-match press conference.
"It been an unbelievable week. We've played some really good tennis. I think for us, we've been able to play a really consistent level throughout every match," she added.
Ostapenko says her poor showing has a lot to do with the fatigue that comes from playing so many matches; this loss against Barty snapped an 8-game hot streak for the Latvian that included taking out Gabrine Muguruza last night.
"I played some great matches. And also yesterday beating world No. 1, I think was also emotional win.Yesterday we finished quite late, so I didn't really have enough time to recover before today's match," Ostapenko conceded.
The match-up between Caroline Garcia and Maria Sakkari was similarly cut-and-dry: Garcia had some shaky moments, especially in the opening service games, but kept the momentum firmly on her side on the way to a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Garcia displayed a preference for forehand shots in this match, mounting an aggressive all-court push to keep her Greek opponent from getting anything out of her points.
"I was solid on the important points," Garcia said after the match. "I played very well when it was 30-all or deuce. When I had a break point, I did it almost every single time. So I played very well the key moments and key points. That makes a difference."
Tomorrow's meeting between Garcia and Barty will be their first meeting on the tour.
Barty was scheduled to play a doubles match later tonight, but retired in order to focus on the singles final.
That is good news for home fans, who will get to see China's Yang Zhaosuan team up with Shuko Aoyama of Japan to take on Chan Yung-Jan of Chinese Taipei and Martina Hingis of Switzerland in the doubles final. Earlier in the day, Chan/Hingis took out Sania Mirza of India and China's Peng Shuai 7-6 (5), 6-4 to reach the doubles final.
