Australians on track for Strasbourg final

Samantha Stosur and Daria Gavrilova have continued their exciting French Open build-ups to edge to within a win each of the first all-Australian WTA final in more than a decade.

Chasing her second title in Strasbourg in three years, Stosur hammered nine aces en route to an impressive 7-6(5) 6-4 victory over Spanish claycourter Carla Suarez Navarro.

Gavrilova then denied Fed Cup teammate Ashleigh Barty 6-4 6-7(3) 7-6(5) in a near-three-hour thriller to also reach her first semifinal of the year.

.@Daria_Gav secures a spot in @WTA_Strasbourg Semifinals!

Beats Barty 6-4, 6-7(3), 7-6(5)! #IS17 pic.twitter.com/v8Dpl0Vyks

— WTA (@WTA) May 25, 2017

Champion in 2015, Stosur will play China’s Peng Shuai for a place in Saturday’s title match, while Gavrilova will face Frenchwoman and defending champion Caroline Garcia, a 7-6(3) 6-2 victor over Czech Kristyna Pliskova.

Along with Barty, Stosur and Gavrilova were the first Australian trio to make the quarterfinals of the same WTA event in 27 years.

Now the pair – separated by 10 years in age but just one spot in the rankings – are the first Aussie women to progress to the semis of the same event since Jelena Dokic and Jarmila Wolfe (nee Gajdosova) in Kuala Lumpar in 2011.

.@bambamsam30 is first through to @WTA_Strasbourg Semifinals!

Downs Suárez Navarro 7-6(5), 6-4! pic.twitter.com/EWlMWhOg2O

— WTA (@WTA) May 25, 2017

Stosur said, personally, she was delighted to be into her first semi since making the last four in Paris last year for a fourth time.

Beating an opponent ranked No.6 in the world last year and a two-time French Open quarterfinalist made the 2010 Roland Garros runner-up’s victory even sweeter.

“What’s not to be happy about? Three wins, I’m playing very well and today was a really good challenge,” Stosur said.

“Someone like Carla, she can play very deep in the court and make you hit a lot of balls.

“By the end, she was trying to move forward and rush me a bit more and so you have to be aware of what’s going on and what she’s doing and try and adapt accordingly.

“As the match went on, I think I got better and better.”

While Stosur preserved her record of not dropping a set all week, Barty pushed Gavrilova all the way in a rollercoaster encounter featuring a dozen service breaks.

Gavrilova led 4-2 in the third set only for Barty – the resurgent former Wimbledon junior champion – to roar back to take the match to a deciding tiebreaker.

Gavrilova finally prevailed with an unreturnable serve to secure her sixth win from her past seven matches on the red dirt.

“It’s really cool,” Gavrilova said.

“I’m really excited. It couldn’t get any closer. I knew it was going to be a tough battle. She’s such a great player.

“It was tough mentally. We were both fighting really, really hard to win.”

The last time two Australians clashed in a final was in Sydney in 2005, when Alicia Molik beat Stosur 6-7(5) 6-4 7-5.

Should Gavrilova win the title, she would end Stosur’s 449-week reign as Australia’s top-ranked female player.