MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The Latest at the Australian Open on Thursday (all times local):
10:35 p.m.
Danielle Collins reached a Grand Slam final for the first time with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Iga Swiatek at the Australian Open.
The 28-year-old American will next face top-ranked Ash Barty for the title at Melbourne Park.
Collins broke the 2020 French Open champion's serve in the first game of each set and raced to 4-0 leads in both. She hit 27 winners and had only 13 unforced errors.
Collins' run to the Australian Open semifinals in 2019 was her best previous result at a Grand Slam tournament.
She says she's looking forward to taking on the home favorite in the final.
Collins says “we’ve had some incredible battles.”
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8:50 p.m.
Ash Barty ended a long drought by reaching the Australian Open final with a 6-1, 6-3 win over unseeded Madison Keys.
She still has one to go.
Barty is the first Australian woman to reach the singles final of her home Grand Slam tournament since Wendy Turnbull in 1980. No Australian has won the title since Chris O’Neil in 1978.
The top-ranked Barty conceded only 17 games on her way to the semifinals and continued her strong form with another dominating 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 is one win away from adding another on a hard court.
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7:15 p.m.
Tennis legend Dylan Alcott’s farewell party has been spoiled with a loss in the wheelchair quad final to Sam Schroder of the Netherlands.
After a whirlwind 48 hours, the 2022 Australian of the Year was upset by Schroder 7-5, 6-0 in Thursday’s final at Rod Laver Arena.
The 31-year-old Alcott admitted before the match he was “fried” after rushing to the national capital of Canberra on Tuesday night following his semifinal win, soaking in the Australia Day honor that came his way, and preparing for what he said was his “last dance."
Alcott retires with 15 Grand Slam titles. He completed an unprecedented Golden Slam last year, winning all four majors in the wheelchair quad as well as the Tokyo Paralympics event.
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4:30 p.m.
It's going to be an all-Australian men's double final on Saturday at Melbourne Park.
Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis, dubbed the “Special K" team, beat the third-seeded pair of Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 7-6 (4), 6-4.
It came before a nearly full Rod Laver Arena with many fans admitted without the need for tickets and using their Melbourne Park grounds passes.
On an adjoining near-empty Margaret Court Arena, fellow Australians Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell beat the second-seeded team of Rajeev Ram of the United States and Joe Salisbury of Britain 6-3, 7-6 (9), saving four set points in the second set.
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3:15 p.m.
The mixed doubles finalists are set at Melbourne Park with the Australian wild-card entry of Jaimee Fourlis and Jason Kubler set to play in Friday's final after a seriously late finish in their semifinal.
In a match ending after 2 a.m. on Thursday due to the marathon men’s quarterfinal between Daniil Medvedev and Felix Auger-Aliassime won by Medvedev in five sets, Fourlis and Kubler continued their unlikely run.
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 didn’t wake up, I swear, until after the first set," Kubler said.
The Australians will face Kristina Mladenovic and Ivan Dodig, who beat Zhang Shuai and John Peers in the other semifinal.
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2:20 p.m.
The top-seeded Czech team of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova have advanced to the women's doubles final at Melbourne Park with a 6-2, 6-3 win over the third-seeded pair of Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Bertens of Belgium.
Kerjcikova and Siniakova will play Beatriz Haddad Maia and Anna Danilina in Sunday's final. Earlier Haddad Maia and Danilana beat the the No.2-seeded Japanese pair of Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
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2 p.m.
Beatriz Haddad Maia and Anna Danilina have advanced to the women's doubles final with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win over the Japanese pair of No. 2-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara at Rod Laver Arena.
Haddad Maia, of Brazil, and Danilina, of Kazahstan, will play the winner of the later semifinal between the top-seeded Czech team of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova and third-seeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Bertens of Belgium.
Next up on Rod Laver is a men's doubles semifinal with the “Special K" Australian team of Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis playing third-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina.
The women's singles semifinals are set for the night program at Rod Laver Arena. Top-ranked and local hope Ash Barty plays American Madison Keys, followed by Iga Switek's match against another American, Danielle Collins.
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