It was the second straight walkover win in
Australia for Kasatkina after Germany's Laura Siegemund withdrew
from their quarterfinal match with a leg injury.
Kasatkina will seek her seventh career WTA singles title against
No. 6 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia. Ostapenko also will be
chasing her seventh title after a 6-2, 7-6 (3) victory against
Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova. Ostapenko is 5-2 against
Kasatkina.
Pegula is the No. 5 seed for the upcoming Australian Open and is
slated to face Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino in the first
round.
Hobart International
Top seed Elise Mertens of Belgium will try to win this
Australian tournament for the third time (2017, 2018) when she
faces first-time WTA Tour finalist and No. 2 seed Emma Navarro
in Saturday's final.
Mertens needed just under three hours to eliminate Australian
wild card Daria Saville 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. Mertens earned the
pivotal service break in the 11th game of the deciding set and
then served out the match.
Navarro dispatched China's Yue Yuan 6-4, 6-3 in the other
semifinal. Navarro never faced a break point and struck four
aces to set up her first-ever meeting with Mertens, who will be
trying to collect her ninth title.
--Field Level Media
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