Elisabetta Cocciaretto, a young Italian player, is close to winning her maiden WTA title. She defeated Sofia Kenin, former Australian Open champion at the Hobart International.
World No.67 Cocciaretto has defeated two seeded players at this tournament, including Alize Cornet, in the first round. She advanced to the final with a 7-5 6-1 6-1 win on Friday.
After being broken in the final match of the second set, the 21-year-old was ecstatic.
Cocciaretto will be facing one of two qualifiers in final, either Anna Blinkova from Russia or Lauren Davis from America. Steve Bell/Getty Images
“It’s amazing to be in the final. It was surprising again. Cocciaretto stated that she is a very talented player.
“She was very aggressive in her second set. She played amazing at 4-all. I was nervous. I am improving and doing better. My serve worked well.
Cocciaretto won her third seed Cornet’s win and beat Jasmine Paolini, a higher-ranked countrywoman, in the second round. In the quarter-finals, Cocciaretto defeated sixth seed Bernarda Perua.
She will meet either Anna Blinkova from Russia or Lauren Davis from America in the final.
Kenin stated that she will take many positives from her semifinal Hobart run into next weeks’ Australian Open, where she meets Victoria Azarenka, who is a two-time champion.
After battling with injury and form, the 24-year-old reached a career-high No.4 in the world not long after her 2020 Open win.
“I feel like I played well overall. It was a good tournament. I enjoyed coming again,” Kenin, 2019 Hobart winner, stated.
“In the third set, my energy dropped a bit. Everything was a bit tired.
“She played well. “I could have done it better in a few minutes, but it just didn’t go my way.”