Room-mates Ashleigh Barty and Olivia Rogowska will meet for a place in the main draw of next month's Australian Open.
Barty, the Wimbledon junior champion, defeated sixth-seeded local Arina Rodinova 7-5, 6-3 while Rogowska beat West Australian Bojana Bobusic 6-4, 7-5.
Rogowska described the 15-year-old Barty as a dangerous proposition who is able to play freely with no expectations.
"Obviously, she's playing really good tennis, she's going out there with nothing to lose and that's always the most lethal kind of player," Rogowska said.
"I'm going to go out there and try to forget who I'm playing, just focus on myself and my game plan.
"We're both in the AIS, so we do hit with each other a few times whenever she's in Melbourne.
"She's a very solid competitor and I'm going to have to play some top tennis to beat her. It should be interesting."
Rogowska said she had been improving with each match and played well on the key points in windy conditions.
"The play-offs are tough because your friends are watching. But it's my third time in the final, so I play well here," she said.
Barty was a wildcard entry into the tournament itself and said she was "just pleased to win a few matches."
She said while she got on well with all the players in the tournament, she kept tennis talk away from her school friends in Queensland.
"We have a pretty odd group at school so I think we just talk a lot of crap," she said.
Victorian Marinko Matosevic will face Sydney's James Duckworth for an Australian Open wildcard spot on Sunday and is already looking forward to "the real deal".
Matosevic won the wildcard tournament last year but was ousted in the first round of the Open and is out to make amends.
Matosevic, the second seed, dropped the first set before beating Queenslander Michael Look 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 while Duckworth knocked out top seed Greg Jones from Sydney 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.
Matosevic said the match was not "the toughest" but found it hard to gather rhythm in the windy conditions during the opening set.
"I would like to have this confidence in January when the real deal is on but it's a great preparation, especially for me because I haven't played since the Shanghai Masters (In October)," he said.
"I practised with James (Duckworth) just before this got underway and I know him pretty well.
"He's had a really good breakthrough year and I'm looking forward to it tomorrow."
AAP
Tags: tennis, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia First posted December 10, 2011 13:23:02
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