WTA Round-Up: Semi-Final Day in Brisbane, Auckland and Shenzhen

We have our first set of finalists on the WTA tour in 2016. Brisbane, Auckland and Shenzhen will crown their champions tomorrow as three ladies will get their new season off to the perfect start; an ideal way to begin preparations for the Australian Open.

Kerber Reaches 5th Premier Final in 9 Months

Angelique Kerber won four WTA events in 2015: Charleston, Stuttgart, Birmingham and Stanford. The common feature between them? They are all Premier events. No real surprise then that the German, who will be seeded 7th at the Australian Open, is in another Premier final, this time in Brisbane.

With the 2nd seed Garbiñe Muguruza pulling out of the tournament in the 2nd round, for the 4th seed Kerber, the draw was now wide open and she had every right to believe she was favourite to reach the championship match. The German even lost the first set of her new season, in the first round against Camila Giorgi, but hasn't lost once since, defeating the Italian, Madison Brengle, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and now Carla Suarez Navarro. She was mighty against the Spaniard and lost just five games in total as another Premier final came her way. (Kerber's also in the doubles final with Andrea Petkovic; they'll take on no.1 seeds Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis).

Angelique Kerber during her semi-final win against Carla Suarez Navarro (Via AFP)

Standing in Kerber's way is Victoria Azarenka, as the Belarusian reached her first WTA final in just under a year and her fourth in Brisbane. She put to an end American qualifier Sam Crawford's magnificent breakout week, dropping just three games in the process, including a bagel in the first set. The former world no.1 will be amongst the top 16 seeds now in Melbourne as she chases a third title at the first major of the year. The focus for Azarenka though tomorrow is Kerber on the other side of the court.

Görges Into Auckland Final As Stephens And Wozniacki Must Wait

Germany's Julia Görges reached her first WTA final since October 2012 at the ASB Classic in Auckland, although she still has no idea who her opponent will be in the final, as Sloane Stephens and Caroline Wozniacki have to come back to complete their last-four meeting.

Görges, who has a best Slam result of the last-16 in Melbourne on three occasions (including last year), ended qualifier Tamira Paszek's fantastic showing this week with the loss of just six games. It'll be Görges' 6th final on tour, having already claimed 2 titles to date, with one of them coming against Wozniacki on home soil on the clay of Stuttgart back in 2011.

For a repeat final to occur, the Danish former world no.1 will have plenty of work to do when her last-four match against Stephens gets back underway, trailing the American 5-2, having been broken twice, before rain intervened and brought play for the day to a premature end. Wozniacki is looking to go one better than last year, where she lost to Venus Williams in the final, whilst Stephens is chasing just her 2nd career title.

Only One Riske Remaining For Aga In Shenzhen

Aga Radwanska has guaranteed herself the no.4 seeding at the Australian Open (dropping Maria Sharapova to no.5) after the Pole eased her way into her 25th WTA final.

The former Wimbledon finalist knew victory in her Shenzhen semi-final against Anna-Lena Friedsam would see her avoid Serena Williams or Simona Halep until at least the last-four in Melbourne and Friedsam had no answer to Radwanska, with the current WTA Finals title holder progressing 6-2, 6-4, and she has yet to drop a set all week. Radwanska will be gunning for her 18th career title tomorrow and her 3rd tournament win in a 3rd different city in China (winning the China Open in Beijing in 2011 and the Tianjin Open last October).

Standing in Radwanska's way is American Alison Riske, after she beat Genie Bouchard's conquerer, Hungary's Timea Babos, by the same score line. Riske had lost her previous two meetings to Babos; in Birmingham in 2012 and in Tianjin a few months ago, winning just a single set in those couple of encounters, but the Pittsburgh born world no.97 (that ranking will go up considerably next week) was in complete control here, where she booked her place in just her 2nd WTA final (the other was in China, where she lost to Belinda Bencic in Tianjin in 2014).