When eight of the world’s top 10 women started the week in Brisbane, few expected a 21-year-old unseeded Muscovite to be lining up on the opposite side of the white tape to Serena Williams in tonight’s women’s singles decider.
But 36th-ranked Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is no stranger to finals night in Brisbane, having taken the doubles title with fellow Russian Alisa Kleybanova two years ago. Taking on arguably the best player in the world right now – on form at least – will be a whole different prospect.
The pair enter tonight’s showdown having taken contrasting paths to the final. Williams was handed a semifinal walkover after No.1 seed Victoria Azarenka withdrew and has dropped just 14 games in wiping Varvara Lepchenko, Alize Cornet and Sloane Stephens aside. Pavlyuchenkova overcame a nervous start to end the run of Ukraine’s lucky loser Lesia Tsurenko in three sets in last night’s semifinal and it marked her third three-setter in four matches, with her first-round win over Lucie Hradecka and quarterfinal upset of fourth seed Angelique Kerber also going the distance. Her upset of 2011 Brisbane champion and this year’s sixth seed Petra Kvitova, was her only straight-sets result so far. Williams has claimed all three prior meetings and with 46 tour titles to the Russian’s eight, starts an overwhelming favourite to lift her first Brisbane trophy.
The men’s singles semifinals headline the day session on Pat Rafter Arena with four of the tour’s fastest movers to do battle. First up is the clean-striking Marcos Baghdatis, a player who’s no stranger to success Down Under with an Australian Open runner-up finish and a title in Sydney to his name. The Cypriot meets Grigor Dimitrov, the 21-year-old Bulgarian fast becoming known for his results, rather than the comparisons to Roger Federer’s playing style. Dimitrov was impressive in taking out seeds Milos Raonic (No.2) and Jurgen Melzer (No.7) in straight sets and will favour his chances of reaching his first tour final in Brisbane.
Top seed Andy Murray got his title defense back on track yesterday; his straight-sets win over Denis Istomin erasing memories of his shaky three-set opener against Brisbane qualifier John Millman from the night before. He meets Japan’s highest-ranked player in history, fifth seed Kei Nishikori. Murray has claimed both previous encounters including an Australian Open quarterfinal last year and after two matches in the Queensland capital would hope to have shaken out enough off-season cobwebs to reach his second straight Brisbane final.
Dimitrov and Nishikori will have to rebound from their respective singles semifinals to contest the men’s doubles semifinals when the take on Brazilian Marcelo Melo and Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo in the third match of the day.
Fourth seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Kveta Peschke will contest the women’s doubles final tonight when they meet unseeded pair Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sania Mirza after Williams and Pavlyuchenkova square off.