Top position Ash Barty was selected by 25th in the Australian Open quarterfinals Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.
Muchova won 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 over the Australian to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final on Thursday.
She gets no. 22 Jennifer Brady, who beat the 61st position Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in a U.S. quarterfinal. Brady, one of 72 players who could not leave her hotel room for two weeks last month as part of a hard-hitting exclusion, also reached the final four of last year’s US Open.
“I would say I did not really have high expectations of myself to do well,” Brady said. He noted that the two-week break ahead of her Australian Open tune in Melbourne had given her the chance to recover after playing non-stop since June. ‘I feel a little mentally fried [before the quarantine], to be honest. “
Barty’s defeat means the winner of Thursday’s other semi-final between Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams (22:00 ET Wednesday in the US) is likely to be a major favorite to win the tournament.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN SIGNS: Women | Men
Barty (24) has offered to become the first Australian single to reach the final in Melbourne since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005 and the first to win since Chris O’Neil in 1978. She lost in the semifinals last year with the eventual champion Sofia Kenin.
Barty, the French Open champion in 2019, achieved her number 1 position through the pandemic, despite going through more than a year between matches. She won her first 11 sets during this event, by the first set against Muchova.
Muchova was terrible in the first series of 24 minutes – one winner of 13 unforced errors. Muchova took an early second set of medical timeouts and then won seven of the next eight games while Barty crumbled.
“I was a little lost on the track, and my head was spinning, so I took a breather,” Muchova said, adding that she was cooled off with ice from the track during the nine minutes of rest.
Barty said what Muchova did is within the rules.
“She’s within her rights to take that time,” she said. ‘If she had not been under the rules, the physiologists and the doctors would have said it.
‘It’s not my place to comment here on whether she had an injury or not. These are the physios and the doctors. ‘
Barty played without overwhelming the Rod Laver Arena crowd support. The ban on fans due to the closure of the five-day coronavirus in the area ends Thursday.
‘I was disappointed that I allowed it [medical timeout] a turning point, ‘she said. “I’m experienced enough now to handle that.”
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