Ashleigh Barty into Sydney International singles final

SYDNEY (AP) — Ashleigh Barty continued her strong run at the Sydney International with a semifinal win over Kiki Bertens, beating the Dutch player 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5 Friday.

Barty withstood 15 aces from Bertens in the 2-hour, 18-minute match to advance to her second consecutive final in Sydney.

She will play two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who beat Serbian qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1, 6-2.

After beating 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the first round, Barty has defeated No. 1 Simona Halep, the 12th-ranked Elise Mertens and Bertens.

"It's amazing — it truly has been a phenomenal week of tennis," Barty said. "I feel like I've played great the whole week. I've had tough opponents every single round and I'm really excited to have another shot at the title."

Italian Andreas Seppi advanced to Saturday's men's final by beating Diego Schwartzman 7-6 (3), 6-4. Seppi beat top-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals and will play in his first final since June 2015 in Germany.

Seppi will play the winner of the semifinal between Australian Alex de Minaur and Gilles Simon. That match was postponed by rain until Saturday morning.

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