MELBOURNE -- World number one Ashleigh Barty eased into the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-1 6-4 win over Polona Hercog on a blustery Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday.
The Australian had given her compatriots a scare by losing her first set of the tournament on Monday but there were no such nerves on the main showcourt on day three of the championships as Barty raced through the first set in 24 minutes.
Hercog caused the French Open champion a few problems on her serve with her rangy returns but Barty saved all six break points she faced and sealed the win when the Slovenian was unable to keep a backhand return in the court.
The top seed will play Belgian qualifier Greet Minnen or Kazakh Elena Rybakina in the third round as she looks to stay on course to become the first homegrown champion at the Australian Open since 1978.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
PARIS -- Ashley Barty holds on to top spot in the WTA rankings released Monday but Karolina Pliskova has narrowed the gap heading into the Australia Open.
Dumped out of the Brisbane International in straight sets last week, Barty retains a comfortable cushion of 1,607 points over the Czech, who went on to win the Brisbane title for the third time in four years on Sunday.
Barty is aiming to become the first Australian to win her home Grand Slam since Christine O'Neil in 1976 and continues her preparations this week in Adelaide
Naomi Osaka of Japan, beaten by Pliskova in a marathon semi-final at Brisbane, moves up one place to third at the expense of Simona Halep, who is also fine-tuning her Australian Open challenge in Adelaide.
Serena Williams, who ended a three-year title drought with victory in Sunday's Auckland Classic final, also moves up one place to ninth.
WTA rankings on January 13:
1. Ashleigh Barty (AUS) 7,547 pts
2. Karolina Plískova (CZE) 5,940
3. Naomi Osaka (JPN) 5,496 (+1)
4. Simona Halep (ROU) 5,461 (-1)
5. Elina Svitolina (UKR) 5,075
6. Bianca Andreescu (CAN) 4,935
7. Belinda Bencic (SUI) 4,605 (+1)
8. Petra Kvitova (CZE) 4,436 (-1)
9. Serena Williams (USA) 4,215 (+1)
10. Kiki Bertens (NED) 4,165 (-1)
11. Madison Keys (USA) 3,072 (+2)
12. Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) 2,940 (-1)
13. Johanna Konta (GBR) 2,813 (-1)
14. Petra Martic (CRO) 2,646 (+1)
15. Sofia Kenin (USA) 2,565 (-1)
16. Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) 2,390
17. Elise Mertens (BEL) 2,250
18. Angelique Kerber (GER) 2,175
19. Alison Riske (USA) 2,130
20. Donna Vekic (CRO) 2,080
Agence France-Presse
World number one Ash Barty battled back from a set down to beat Czech Republic's seventh seed Petra Kvitova 4-6 6-4 6-3 to advance to the semi-finals of the China Open in Beijing on Friday.
French Open champion Barty, who had been beaten twice by Kvitova in Australia earlier this year, fired nine aces and converted three of six break points to win the encounter.
"That was one of the highest quality matches I played all year," Barty told reporters. "Petra always has a way of bringing out the best in me, she really does.
"From both of us, I think the level was incredible. Regardless of winning or losing, I think I'd be sitting here with the exact same perspective, kind of the same feeling of the match afterwards."
Although Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, fired 36 winners to Barty's 31, her unforced error count of 28 proved to be her downfall.
The Czech saved three match points when Barty served for the match at 5-3 in the decider but the Australian fought back to deuce and then fired a crosscourt forehand winner to move into the tournament's semis for the first time in her career.
Barty will face eighth seed Kiki Bertens, who upset third seed Elina Svitolina 7-6(6) 6-2.
In another battle of Grand Slam champions, Japan's Naomi Osaka beat U.S. Open holder Bianca Andreescu 5-7 6-3 6-4 in a thrilling encounter, ending the Canadian's 17-match winning streak to book her place in the semi-finals.
"I forgot how it felt and honestly it sucks, I didn't miss it," Andreescu said after her first loss since the Miami Open in March and her first loss against a top 10 opponent. "Hopefully that was fun.
"I think we're going to have many matches like this. Our game styles are pretty different, but they level up pretty equally."
Osaka fired 10 aces, 31 winners and won 78 percent of her first service points in a see-saw encounter that had a total of 11 breaks of serve. She will play defending champion Caroline Wozniacki, who beat Russia's Daria Kasatkina 6-3 7-6(5).
Osaka became the fifth player to qualify for the season-ending WTA Finals in Shenzhen after Barty, Karolina Pliskova, Wimbledon champion Simona Halep and Andreescu.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
LONDON -- World number one Ashleigh Barty's hopes of becoming the first Australian women's champion in nearly four decades were dashed on Monday, opening the way for Serena Williams to potentially equal the all-time Grand Slam haul.
At the opposite end of the age scale to 37-year-old Williams, 15-year-old Coco Gauff could not summon up yet another magical performance as the crowd-pleasing American went down 6-3, 6-3, to battle-hardened Romanian Simona Halep.
Having looked assured last week, while Williams was not altogether convincing, it was 23-year-old Australian Barty who cracked and went down in three sets to unseeded American Alison Riske 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
There was one consolation for Barty as Karolina Pliskova could have taken her number one spot but the Czech third seed went out as well in a marathon duel beaten by compatriot Karolina Muchova 4-6, 7-5, 13-11
Williams, bidding for a 24th Grand Slam title to tie with Australian Margaret Court, will play Riske next after trouncing Carla Suzarez Navarro 6-2, 6-2.
"It is a tough one to swallow but I lost to a better player," said Barty, who had been hoping to become the first Australian champion since Evonne Goolagong Cawley won her second title in 1980.
For Riske it was perhaps an unexpected early wedding present -- she gets married after Wimbledon Stephen Amritraj, the son of former Indian Davis Cup player Anand -- but extremely well-earned.
It will be the 29-year-old's first appearance in a Grand Slam quarter-final.
"I had to play aggressive. I had to take it to Ash," said Riske
"The grass definitely brings out the best in me. Hopefully it will rub off and happen in other places too."
The prospect of playing Williams did not have her knees knocking together in fear either: "Bring it on!"
Halep unlike Gauff's previous opponents did not let a partisan crowd nor some audacious strokeplay by the American unnerve her and always had the upper hand.
Gauff did save three match points but in the end former world number one Halep had little trouble in closing out the match.
The American, though, leaves having given the women's game a much-needed shot in the arm and announced herself as a future Grand Slam contender.
- 'Feel a relief' -
Williams, whose clay court season was affected by a knee injury, said the hunger for the game and for victory is as strong as ever.
"I always get excited," said Williams after her victory which put her into a 14th Wimbledon quarter-final.
"I'm a really pumped player. That's my personality. Of course I still I want it or else I wouldn't be here."
Williams has teamed up with another former world number one Andy Murray in the mixed doubles to accrue more matches and she said that the more she played she more she was finding her rhythm.
"It definitely is good, I know that I can play and now that I'm feeling better physically, I almost feel a relief more than anything.
"Finally I can play tennis."
Williams, who won her first match with Murray on Saturday, said she will not be taking Riske for granted.
"Last time I faced a fellow American, I lost," she said in reference to her loss to Sofia Kenin at Roland Garros
"She's great on the grass and took out the number one player in the world who's just won a grass court tournament (Barty won in Birmingham)."
Zhang Shuai became the first Chinese woman since Li Na in 2013 to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
World number 50 Zhang defeated Ukraine teenager Dayana Yastremska 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 -- a result far from her mind when she was talked out of retiring at her lowest point in 2015.
The 30-year-old, who faces Halep for a place in the semi-finals, thanked her close friend and doubles partner Australia's Sam Stosur for convincing her to stick with it.
"She's (Stosur) such a nice girl, and she told me when I said I wanted to retire, and she really wanted that I keep going to play."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Ashleigh Barty will become the first Australian in 43 years to climb to the top of the WTA singles ranking after she won the Birmingham Classic grasscourt title on Sunday.
The 23-year-old beat Germany's Julia Goerges 6-3 7-5 in the final, meaning she will knock Japan's Naomi Osaka off the summit when the new rankings are released on Monday.
"It's been the most incredible journey for me and my team," Barty said on court after a standing ovation from the crowd and a warm hug from her doubles partner Goerges.
"You always dream about (being number one) as a little kid but for it to become a reality it's incredible and not something that was even in my realm, we were aiming for top 10 this year."
Barty's route to the top has been nothing if not an unconventional one.
The former junior Wimbledon champion took an indefinite break from tennis at the end of 2014, recently citing mental health issues as the reason, and played Big Bash cricket for Brisbane Heat before returning to the sport in 2016.
Since then the Queenslander's rise has been remarkable.
"We started from scratch three and a half years ago without a ranking and now to be where we are is a massive achievement for me and my team," Barty, whose return has been overseen by coach Craig Tyzzer, said.
She won the Miami title this year to break into the top 10 for the first time, then this month she became the first Australian woman to win the French Open for 46 years.
Now she has become the 27th woman to reach number one since WTA rankings were introduced in 1975.
"She is a truly impressive person and deserves every success that comes her way. I couldn't be prouder to be her coach," Tyzzer told the WTA's website.
"Over the last three years, Ash has grown as a person and as a player. What has stayed constant is her genuine, humble and respectful nature."
Despite the prize at stake, Barty looked calm and composed throughout the final against doubles partner Goerges on Sunday, just as she did when beating Marketa Vondrousova in the Roland Garros final a fortnight ago.
Her only moment of concern was when she faced a set point at 4-5 in the second. But in true champion style she fired an ace.
Two games later a Goerges error confirmed Barty's coronation and the end of Osaka's 21-week stay at the summit.
The last Australian woman to reach the number one ranking was Evonne Goolagong in 1976 although it only came to light 31 years later after the discovery of an error in the records.
Like Goolagong, Barty is proud of her indigenous Australian heritage, with her father having Ngarigo ancestry through one of his grandmothers.
"I'm a little bit speechless, it's been a whirlwind few weeks to be honest and to be able to follow in the footsteps of Evonne and even mentioned in the same sentence is incredible," Barty, who will now be top seed at Wimbledon, said.
"What she has done for our sport and Australians all around the world, she put us on the map, and what she has done for indigenous Australians is remarkable."
There will be no elaborate celebrations for Barty, however, as she said she was getting straight in a car to head own to Eastbourne to continue her Wimbledon preparations.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
PARIS—Ashleigh Barty, the Australian who ditched tennis to play professional cricket for a year, smashed Marketa Vondrousova for six on Saturday to lift the French Open crown at Roland Garros.
Boasting a bewildering array of shots and spins, the eighth seed crushed her Czech teenage opponent 6-1, 6-3 to win her first Grand Slam title, and Australia’s first French women’s singles crown in more than four decades.
“It’s unbelievable... I played the perfect match today. I am so proud of myself and my whole team... it has been a crazy two weeks,” said Barty, the ninth different female champion in the last 10 grand slams.
“This is a special place for Australian players... it has been a magical two weeks.”
Not since Margaret Court’s triumph in Paris in 1973 has an Australian won the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen but this victory was in very little doubt from the moment the final began.
In a match-up where guile and artistry always trumped power, Barty was simply smarter throughout.
Producing angles so sharp they might have come with a health warning, the 23-year-old carved apart Vondrousova in the opening set, clinching it in half an hour.
While the match was no classic, those fans who had taken a break after the conclusion of the Dominic Thiem-Novak Djokovic men’s semi-final which had caused the women’s final to run more than an hour late, missed some of the more thoughtful tennis played on the Roland Garros clay this past fortnight.
Vondrousova, who herself has bamboozled a succession of opponents here, repeatedly found herself outfoxed by Barty, whose doubles excellence was always on display with her net-play and cleverly angled serving.
Barty, who returned to tennis in 2016 after a successful stint with the Brisbane Heat in Australian cricket’s Women’s Big Bash League, took nary a backward step, breaking instantly in the second set to deprive her 19-year-old opponent any foothold.
Cracking a stiff-armed, two-handed backhand, in the manner of Jim Courier, Barty was able to counter Vondrousova’s attempts to pull her wide with her loopy left-handed backhand, and the Czech rapidly ran out of ideas.
Vondrousova turned to ever riskier strategies — her drop shots became finer, her drives more firmly struck — and she earned a little breathing space, holding serve three times after that early break.
But the irrevocable damage had been done and when Barty slammed a short smash high into the stands it was all over and she raised her arms in triumph.
The victory lacked drama but lifts Barty to number two in the world — a feat last accomplished by an Australian woman in 1976 by Evonne Goolagong. (Editing by Clare Fallon)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
