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Davis reached the final when her semifinal opponent, seventh-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, retired while trailing 4-1 in the third set. Ostapenko won the first set 6-4 and Davis took the second 6-4.

The tournament has steadily shed seeded players. Top seed and world No. 2 Serena Williams was knocked out in the second round by American compatriot Madison Brengle, and second-seeded Venus Williams withdrew with an arm injury after winning her first-round match.

Fifth-seeded Kiki Bertens went out in the first round, and fourth-seeded Barbora Strycova lost to Davis in straight sets in the quarterfinals.

Konjuh reversed a recent poor run of form by beating Goerges to reach her first final since 2015.

”Coming here, I wasn’t playing that well and my serve wasn’t going so good but I managed to win,” the Croatian said.

Federer gave Switzerland an early lead against France in what amounted to a playoff for the final when he beat Gasquet 6-1, 6-4, but Bencic lost to Mladenovic 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

The doubles was played in the Fast4 format of four-game sets, no deuces, and no service lets.

Federer, who is coming back from six months on the sidelines recovering from a knee injury, had three guaranteed singles matches without the pressure of rankings points in the exhibition tournament and was content with his progress in the Hopman Cup. He won two singles matches, and lost the other in three tiebreak sets to Alexander Zverev of Germany.

“It’s the third match into the year so I am starting to feel the ball better and better and I am just moving around the court better,” the 17-time Grand Slam champion said after his win over Gasquet. “I am happy with where my level is at – I am very pleased that it is already going so well.”

The 35-year-old Federer will head to Melbourne to prepare for the Australian Open, which starts Jan. 16 and where he’s hoping to end a drought at the majors. He hasn’t won a Grand Slam title since Wimbledon in 2012.

Djokovic prevailed 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-3 after the 42nd-ranked Verdasco, a crafty left-hander and former top-10 player, controlled the first two sets until the latter stages of the tiebreaker.

Of the five match points Verdasco held in the second-set tiebreaker, four evaporated on his own mistakes.

“I would like to say tough luck for Fernando, he was clearly the better player for the bigger part of the match and he should have won,” Djokovic said on court. “It was just unfortunate.

“It’s definitely one of the most exciting matches I’ve played. I don’t think I’ve saved five match points too many times.”

The second-seeded Djokovic, who didn’t lose a set en route to the semifinals, broke Verdasco’s serve in the third game of the third set to finally establish what turned into a permanent lead in the 2-hour, 22-minute match.

It was a mistake the 14-time Grand Slam champion wouldn’t recover from.

Raonic made the most of the reprieve, holding serve in that fifth game of the second set and then attacking Nadal’s serve in the eighth to swing the momentum his way in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 quarterfinal win Friday at the Brisbane International.

The top-seeded Raonic broke Nadal’s serve again to start the third set, and calmly held on for only his second win in eight matches against the Spaniard.

Raonic served 23 aces and hit 50 winners to just 19 for Nadal, who could only convert one of his seven break-point opportunities.

As well as the big, deep service returns, Raonic also repeatedly went to the net, trusting his instincts and putting pressure on Nadal.

Watson gave Britain a 1-0 lead when she beat Petkovic 6-2, 7-6 (3) in singles, coming back from 5-1 down in the second set.

But Zverev leveled for Germany when he beat Evans 6-4, 6-3, sending it to the mixed doubles decider which was played under the Fast4 format.

It was Germany’s first win of the tournament, an ITF invitational event which offers no ranking points but has prize money and provides preparation for the upcoming Australian Open. Britain finished 0-3.

Later Friday, Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic were scheduled to lead Switzerland against Kristina Mladenovic and Richard Gasquet of France, with the winner playing the United States team of Coco Vandeweghe and Jack Sock in Saturday’s final.

The 23-year-old was trailing the Frenchwoman 4-1 when she  retired, citing a right thigh injury.

The Spaniard faced a tough path on her way to her semifinal, fighting past Sam Stosur in the first round, Daria Kasatkina in the second, and two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals.

Cornet faces either U.S. Open finalist Karolina Pliskova or sixth-seeded Elina Svitolina, who took out top seed Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals.

Nishikori beat Thompson 6-1, 6-1, joining Wawrinka in the semifinals.

More to come…

Wawrinka defeated Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund in three sets 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-4.

In the first set, Edmund cruised to 5-0 in the tie-break and easily closed the set, losing only two points in the tie-break.

Wawrinka broke Edmund at 3-2 in the second set, and that was enough to level the match 1-1 after taking the second set.

The Swiss broke early in the third set, and was able prevent Edmund from upsetting him.

Wawrinka awaits the winner of Kei Nishikori and Jordan Thompson. Wawrinka has never faced Thompson, and he leads Nishikori 4-3 in their head-to-head.

The $63 million USTA National Campus features an indoor facility and 100 outdoor tennis courts with a variety of playing surfaces. It The Lake Nona campus, located just south east of Orlando, will be home to every level of tennis from youth to collegiate players to elite international players.

”For players from every age and every ability, the USTA National Campus will raise the bar on how we deliver tennis with the goal of making our great sport more accessible to more people than ever before,” USTA chairman and president Katrina Adams said Thursday at the 64-acres facility that officially opened to the public on Monday. ”This is nirvana, tennis heaven. This is truly the home of American tennis.”

Billed as the biggest and most innovative facility of its kind in the world, the USTA National Campus is designed to develop tennis players beginning at a young age in hopes of attracting more people to the sport.

The number of American players consistently having success at the highest level has dwindled of late. Andy Roddick’s 2003 U.S. Open championship was the last Grand Slam won by an American man. Serena Williams has been virtually unchallenged on the women’s side, but at 35 she won’t play forever.

In addition to traditional training methods, athletes at the campus will be exposed to cutting edge technology. Coaches and teachers and event organizers from around the country will also be able to come to the campus and take information they gather back to their communities.

The 44th-ranked Almagro dogged the No. 1, making Murray work overtime to secure a semifinal berth.

Almagro finally surrendered after 2 hours, 9 minutes, when he shipped a backhand crosscourt wide on a second match point for Murray in the final game.

Murray trailed 3-1 in the first set, and squandered a 2-1 advantage with a service break in the second set.

The difference for Murray was in the second serve points won percentage in which he was at 61 and Almagro was at only 47.

“It was a very tough match,” Murray said. “Nico was playing very aggressive and going for his shots. It was hard conditions tonight, very windy, so tough to get into much of a rhythm.”

Nadal,who cut his 2016 season short due to knee and wrist injuries, had no trouble defeating Mischa Zverev in a one-sided match, taking it 6-1 6-1 in just 55.

The Spaniard faces top seed Raonic, who he beat last week in an exhibition match in Abu Dhabi, in the quaterfinals.

“He had a fantastic year last year and I know tomorrow will be a very hard match,” said Nadal. “I know I will have to play my best.”

Raonic defeated Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-2 earlier.

Fifth-seeded Nadal has a 6-1 edge over Raonic in their head-to-head

The United States had already qualified for Saturday’s final with wins in its opening two matches at the ITF invitational event, which offers no ranking points but has prize money.

Sock earlier beat Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 6-2 and Gavrilova defeated Vandeweghe 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in singles play.

Kyrgios, who said he has some left knee soreness but expects to be ready for the Australian Open, was replaced by Ebden in the mixed doubles.

“It’s not terrible, but it’s not great,” Kyrgios said. “I just need to rest now and a couple of days without the load and I should be back to normal. A thing like this won’t take too long.”

Earlier, the Spanish pair of Lara Arruabarrena and Feliciano Lopez beat Lucie Hradecka and Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic 4-2, 4-1 in mixed doubles to give Spain a 2-1 win. Lopez had earlier beaten Pavlasek 7-6 (5), 6-4 while Hradecka gave the Czechs the lead with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Arruabarrena.

Djokovic holds a 13-1 career record over the 38-year-old Stepanek, and has won their last 12 meetings.

Djokovic took a 4-2 lead in the first set before Stepanek broke his serve when the second seed netted a backhand on a third break point in the game.

Djokovic won the next two games, winning the set on an overhead smash to an open court.

In the second set, Djokovic established a 3-1 lead and held on to the advantage.

He will play Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the semifinals. Verdasco defeated sixth-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 6-2, 7-5.

(Photo credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images)

The third-seeded Radwanska was broken three times in both the first and third sets, winning less than a third of the points on her first serve.

Third-seeded Johanna Konta fared better in her quarterfinal match against Kristyna Pliskova, withstanding 15 aces from her Czech opponent to win 6-4, 6-7 (11), 6-3.

Konta will next face another Czech player, Katerina Siniakova, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Nina Stojanovic. The eighth-seeded Riske will play Camila Giorgi of Italy. Giorgi beat Wang Qiang 6-0, 6-2.

The tournament had boasted the strongest field in its history when four former No. 1s – Wozniacki, Ana Ivanovic and Serena and Venus Williams – made it their principal lead-up to the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, the Australian Open.

But Ivanovic withdrew before the tournament began and subsequently retired, and the Williams sisters both bowed out Wednesday: an error-strewn Serena beaten by American compatriot Madison Brengle and Venus withdrawing with an arm injury.

Wozniacki, who was the highest-ranked player remaining, led 6-1, 3-0 before Goerges began to found the range on her big first serve and swung the match in her favor; she served out the second and third sets with aces.

”I just tried to hang in there somehow,” Goerges said. ”I just missed everything I could miss and she didn’t miss one ball.”

Goerges will play eighth-seeded Ana Konjuh in Friday’s semifinal after Konjuh’s quarterfinal opponent, Naomi Osaka of Japan, retired at 3-0 in the first set.

The top-seeded Raonic, who had a first-round bye, fired 12 aces in the 70-minute, second-round match and had four service breaks, including three in the second set. He dropped his own serve during an exchange of breaks to start the second set.

He will next meet either Rafael Nadal or Mischa Zverev, who were playing a night match.

Nadal beat Raonic in an exhibition match last week in Abu Dhabi and has a 6-1 lead in career head-to-head meetings, but the Canadian was still looking forward to facing the Spaniard.

”It’s a great task,” Raonic said. ”I feel like I’m doing a lot of things well and, hopefully, I can match up and play some good tennis.”

Fourth-seeded Dominic Thiem had a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Australian wild-card entry Sam Groth to move into a quarterfinal against No. 7-seeded Grigor Dimitrov, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Nicolas Mahut.

It certainly started differently, with the top-ranked German losing to sixth-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the Brisbane International quarterfinals on Thursday.

Kerber reached the final here last year and fine-tuned to precision for the Australian Open, where she beat Serena Williams to claim her first Grand Slam title. She went on to reach the finals at Wimbledon and the Olympics before collecting a second major title by winning the U.S. Open. She overhauled Williams for the top ranking and finished the year at No. 1.

After a first-round bye, Kerber struggled with her serve and had nine double-faults in a three-set win over Australian wild-card entry Ash Barty in the second round. Against the No. 14-ranked Svitolina, the German left-hander cut her double-faults down to five, and had a break in the third set after winning the second. But she quickly surrendered the break and wasn’t consistent enough, finishing with 48 unforced errors against 39 winners.

“Of course I’m disappointed that I lost here in the quarters (but) I think I’m happy about my start,” Kerber said. “I’m not worried about my serve. I know I can improve it, but, I mean, that’s the second match of the year, the first tournament.

“It was not a bad match. I think we both play on the really high level tonight …so, yeah, next.”

(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

The Frenchwoman, who had never made it to the quarterfinals in Brisbane, defeated the 2016 WTA Finals champion in straight sets 6-3, 7-5.

“What a start of the year! It’s the first week and I think my game is not so bad.

“Beating a player like Dominika takes an amazing performance, everybody knows how much she fights and hits hard the ball. I’m just very, very, very happy,” said Cornet.

The 35-year-old Federer was playing his second match since returning from a six-month layoff because of a left knee injury. He led 5-2 in the first set, but ran into an opponent whose first-serve percentage exceeded 80 percent midway through the final set of the 2½-hour match.

But it turned out to be a winning evening for Federer and Swiss partner Belinda Bencic. Bencic beat Andrea Petkovic 6-3, 6-4 in their singles match, and then Federer and Bencic combined in mixed doubles to beat Zverev and Petkovic 4-1, 4-2 in the Fast4 format.

“She (Bencic) carried us to victory, the player of the singles, the player of the doubles,” Federer said.

Earlier Wednesday, Kristina Mladenovic and Richard Gasquet won their Group A singles matches to give France victory over Britain. Mladenovic beat Heather Watson 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 before Gasquet defeated Dan Evans 6-4, 6-2.

Gasquet and Mladenovic later defeated Evans and Watson 4-3, 4-3 in mixed doubles to complete a sweep.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion cheerfully obliged.

”I just have to mention that making a selfie after the match was over, that was the first time that I ever had this kind of experience in my career,” Djokovic said on court after beating Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-3, 6-4 Wednesday. ”So, Horacio, well done. Very original.”

Djokovic managed to break the Argentine once in each set while never facing a break point on the other side.

”Credit to Zeballos for playing some fearless tennis,” said Djokovic, the defending champion. ”He was stepping in and trying to go for his shots. He wasn’t backing up to the baseline.”

With the win, the second-seeded Djokovic advanced to the quarterfinals and will next face Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic.