Smith into Aus Open tennis wildcard final

Second seed John-Patrick Smith has won through to the final of the Australian Open wildcard play-off.

Smith, 25, overcame fourth seed Ben Mitchell in straight sets in semi-final action at Melbourne Park on Friday.

The big-hitting left hander has been in fine form as he strives to claim a coveted wildcard entry into the main draw of the Australian Open and goes into Sunday’s final without dropping a set in three matches.

He will face last year’s wildcard winner, Jordan Thompson, who advanced to the final with a walk over after No.1 seed Luke Saville withdrew from their semi-final meeting the day before with a hamstring injury.

Thompson won plenty of fans at the last Australian Open when he pushed Jerzy Janowicz, then ranked 21 in the world, to five sets in the first round.

In women’s singles action, Naiktha Bains and Maddison Inglis completed their rain-interrupted quarter-final on Friday with Bains prevailing in three sets to set up a semi-final against fourth seed Arina Rodionova.

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