Coco Gauff meets Elina Svitolina in the Auckland Classic final while Harriet Dart loses in Canberra

January 6, 2024, 10:24 GMT

Updated 26 minutes ago

image source, Getty Images

image description,

Coco Gauff will face Elina Svitolina in the final of the Auckland Classic on Sunday

Coco Gauff continued her impressive form leading up to the Australian Open, reaching the final of the Auckland Classic.

The 19-year-old US Open winner Gauff defeated her American compatriot Emma Navarro 6:3 and 6:1 in the semifinals.

The world number three, who is defending the Auckland title she won in 2023, will face Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in Sunday's final.

The Australian Open starts on January 14th in Melbourne.

Svitolina needed two medical timeouts in her 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over unseeded Wang Xiyu.

Gauff didn't lose a set throughout the tournament in New Zealand and her form suggests she is on track to improve her record at the Australian Open, where she never made it past the fourth round.

“I was just aggressive with my serve and my return,” Gauff said.

“We played a practice set before the tournament started and she played really well, so I knew it had to be my best game if I wanted to win.”

“It's definitely a good start to my 2024. Emma is an incredible player.”

Elsewhere, Britain's Harriet Dart lost the biggest final of her career to date when she was beaten in straight sets by Spain's Nuria Parrizas Diaz in the final of the Canberra International – an event one step below the entire WTA tour.

The 27-year-old dart will now take part in qualifying for the Australian Open, which begins on Monday.

At the Brisbane International, Heather Watson missed out on her sixth WTA doubles title when she and her Belgian partner Greet Minnen were beaten in straight sets by Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok, but Lloyd Glasspool and Dutch partner Jean-Julien Rojer reached the men's doubles final on Sunday .

Also in Brisbane, the Dane Holger Rune met the tough opponent of the unseeded Roman Safiullin, but ultimately secured his place in the men's final with a 6:4, 7:6 (7:0) win.

Russian Safiullin fought back from a deficit before world number eight Rune dominated the tie-break to secure his final place against either second seed Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov or Australian Jordan Thompson, who beat Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals on Friday defeated.

World number four Elena Rybakina comfortably defeated Czech teenager Linda Noskova 6-3 and 6-2 to reach the women's final.

Kazakhstan's Rybakina will face world number two Aryna Sabalenka on Sunday, a repeat of the 2023 Australian Open final which Sabalenka won.

Sabalenka defeated her Belarusian compatriot Victoria Azarenka 6:2 and 6:4 in her semifinal.

“I love playing against Elena [Rybakina]Sabalenka said after her win.

“The quality is always high. I hope it’s a great fight tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to it.”