Australian Open 2020: Doubles glory for Babos and Mladenovic; Thiem thunders past Zverev to enter men's singles finals
Day 12 of the Australian Open
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2020 belonged to Dominic Thiem who thundered past German, Alexander Zverev to book a place in the final of the men's singles competition for the first time while the Franco-Hungarian pair of Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic won the women's doubles crown for the second time.
Babos and Mladenovic, who last won the doubles tie in 2018 defeated top seeds Hsieh Su-Wie and Barbora Strycova 6-2, 6-1.
The Taiwanese-Czech duo of Hsieh and Strycova had beaten their second-seeded opponents in Wimbledon 2019 but went down in an hour and 12 minutes on Friday.
It was the third Grand Slam win for Babos and Mladenovic who also triumphed at the French Open last year.
In the mixed doubles semifinal, the Croatian-Czech pair of Barbora Krejcikova and Nicola Mektic got past third seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Henri Kontinen, 3-6, 6-3 (10-5) while the British-American pair of Bethanie Mattek Sands and Jamie Murray downed Astra Sharma and John-Patrick Smith 6-3, 7-6.
In the second of the men's singles semifinals, fifth-seeded Dominic Thiem stormed into the finals with a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 win over Alexander Zverev.
Also Check out: the complete Australian Open Results & Australian Open Winners
Zverev, seeded seventh, began on the right note, taking the first set against an opponent who took his time to get into the groove but the errors kept creeping in against the determined Austrian whose game got better as the match progressed.
Despite a troubled stomach, Thiem refused to surrender the advantage and unleashed some powerful forehand winners with the odd wristy drop shots which the 22-year-old had no answer to.
Thiem will face defending champion Novak Djokovic in Sunday's final.
In the boy's singles semifinals, Harold Mayot of France beat countryman Timo Legout 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. The 17-year-old Mayot will now square off against another Frenchman and doubles partner, Arthur Cazaux in a face-off for the title.