WITH a spot in the Australian Open title on the line both players left it all out on the court, but in the end it was American Sofia Kenin that broke Aussie hearts, crushing fan favourite and first seed, Ash Barty in straight sets 7-6 7-5 to make it through to her first Grand Slam.

Barty captured the hearts of many Aussies and had the crowd right behind her, backing every move and ball but Kenin was not about to lie down, taking a page out of her opponents book and fighting hard for every point. With the heat bearing down on them Kenin went about her business, backing herself in the contest and covering the court well to make life hard for her Australian opponent. She rattled Barty early, with the world number one unable to find her feet on court and forced into uncharacteristic errors racking up 36 compared to Kenin’s 25. Barty was down on her usual aggressive output allowing Kenin to dictate the terms of play from the moment they got out on court.

It was blow for blow in the first set with neither player able to break one another’s serve, resulting in a tiebreak where the American landed the knock out punch to claim the early ascendancy. But in true Barty fashion the world number one wrestled back the momentum in the second to go two games up and look like clenching the second set before Kenin threw caution to the wind, approaching the net on every opportunity possible and most importantly capitalising, winning 64 per cent of net points compared to Barty’s 27 per cent. Although Kenin could not match the Aussie in the ace department, only delivering two compared to Barty’s eight, her strength lay in the second serve sitting at 63 per cent accuracy. When Barty got going she did plenty of damage, well and truly out-serving Kenin on the first with an impressive winning percentage of 80 compared to the American’s 69, and while her average speed of 167kmh was hard to stop, Kenin somehow found a way to combat her power hitting and claim victory.

Kenin will proceed into her maiden grand slam final on Saturday against the victor of this afternoon’s match between Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza.