ADELAIDE: Aryna Sabalenka has been quite effective throughout the entire competition, winning significant matches to advance to the semifinals. She faced Liudmila Samsonova after having a first-round bye, and after winning the match in straight sets, she faced Marketa Vondrousova in the quarterfinals.

She struggled in the opening set but recovered well enough to win it. Vondrousova was under a lot of pressure from Sabalenka, which caused Vondrousova to miss a lot of service points. With the second set tied at 5-5, Vondrousova was in a good position, but Sabalenka's brilliance was too much for her, and the Belarussian eventually won the match 6-3, 7-5.

Begu, on the other hand, has been a tournament-long surprise, defeating a few favourites. She defeated Shelby Rogers in the opening encounter before slamming Jelena Ostapenko in the subsequent round. In the quarterfinals, she then faced Veronika Kudermetova. At one point, Kudermetova had a 3-1 lead in the first set, but Begu capitalised just in time to win the next eight games and the match. She won the first set, and after gaining all the confidence and putting the Russian under considerable duress, she won the match 7-5, 6-4, setting up a matchup with Sabalenka in the semifinals.

Sania Mirza going to retire soon, this will be her last tournament

United Cup: US, Italy take early leads in city finals