Can Sahra Dennehy Keep Going? She's One Match From a Hong Kong Slam Final
Andrew LeeSahra Dennehy beat Japan's Rika Fujiwara 11-6, 8-11, 11-3 on Friday 23 Oct to reach the women's singles semifinals at the Hang Seng Bank Hong Kong Slam. It was her third meeting with Fujiwara across the Shenzhen Open, Brisbane and Hong Kong, and Dennehy has won the last two.
Three meetings with Fujiwara
Fujiwara won their Shenzhen Open semifinal in August, 11-8, 9-11, 12-10. Dennehy turned it around in the quarterfinals in Brisbane last week, 10-12, 11-4, 11-2, then did it again in Hong Kong. She reached the quarterfinal by beating Sophia Phuong Anh Tran 11-3, 11-3 in the Round of 16. She joins Judit Castillo, Andie Dikosavljevic and Kiora Kunimoto as the four women's singles semifinalists.
Two more quarterfinals, both from the unseeded side
Dennehy entered the doubles draws unseeded and still reached the quarterfinals in both. With fellow Australian Danni-Elle Townsend, she beat the No. 8 seeds Allyce Jones and Kaitlyn Christian 11-7, 4-11, 11-6 in the Round of 16, after an 11-2, 11-1 win over He and Lam in the Round of 32.
In mixed doubles she partnered Tama Shimabukuro, 15 according to a pickleball.com preview. They beat Lam and He 11-1, 11-2, then Hatakeyama and Fujiwara 11-3, 11-5, then the No. 7 seeds Catherine Parenteau and Noe Khlif 11-7, 12-10.
Both doubles runs ended at the quarterfinal. Townsend and Dennehy lost 11-1, 11-8 to the world's top women's team, Anna Leigh Waters and Anna Bright. Dennehy and Shimabukuro lost 11-9, 11-5 to Bright and Hayden Patriquin.
Dennehy plays the singles semifinal on Saturday 24 Oct. Finals are on Sunday 25 Oct.
This article is based on social media posts and historical data tracked by Pickle361.
