MELBOURNE, Australia – In her quarter-final with 25th seed Karolina Muchova, world no. 1, Ashleigh Barty led 6-1, 2-1, and Ashleigh Barty, the world’s no. 1, had one foot in the last four of the Australian Open, and the country’s dream to crown its first home -grown champion since Christine O’Neil approached in 1978.
Barty completely dominated Muchova in the opening series and continued the ongoing run on which she was at Melbourne Park this year. She scored 25 points for the 11 of Muchova, made just six unforced errors and played a brand of tennis that would have left the remaining four women, including Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, more than a little nervous about the prospect of her in to face. deep at the tournament.
But in scenes leading up to the Australian Open men’s final between world no. 1, Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem, recalled last year, the controversial match dropped the match on its head. Muchova did not use the break to seek treatment for a previous stomach injury, but to compose herself; After a break of almost 10 minutes, the Czech released 11 of the next 15 games to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 and drop Barty from her Slam home.
With Barty’s momentum leading to an early break to rise 2-0 in the second set, a flat Muchova is looking for answers. When the 24-year-old walked off the court, she signaled to the chairman of the referee Carlos Ramos that she needed a medical time-out. Muchova does not appear to be suffering from a specific ailment, but it was nevertheless granted and she left court shortly afterwards to seek treatment.
“I started to feel a little lost at the end of the first set and my head turned, so I took a breather,” Muchova explained after the game. “They cooled me down a bit with ice and it helped me.”
The ten-minute break in the game was the catalyst for a great turnaround, and it’s likely to haunt Barty for some time to come.
Muchova immediately broke back to level the second set at 2-2 and out of nowhere the Czech played the better tennis. Barty’s focus has dipped and suddenly the balls that set the Rod Laver Arena lines in the first set and paint three games are sprayed wide and long. She threw balls into the net and doubled with more frequency than we have seen in all the tournaments.
It was almost as if Barty thought the task was over and could not motivate her in top gear again.
Muchova pocketed the second set in 52 minutes and when she managed to break Barty in the first game of the deciding set, the appearance of concern on the Australian only became clearer. For the first time in the tournament, Barty was not a favorite to advance to the next round.
A dazed and shocked Barty continued to fight, but he sprayed unforced errors all over the track so that Muchova could break again shortly afterwards for a 5-2 lead. The Czech then also served out the match and secured her first semi-final in a Grand Slam.
“It’s a disappointment today, without a doubt,” Barty said after the loss. ‘I would like to do better and the next game was just a little bit sharper [after the medical timeout]. I just made a few loose mistakes in the game. I think that was the story for the rest of the series. ‘
The shift in momentum after the medical time-out was strong. Muchova only hit one winner before leaving court, but managed to hit 16 when she returned. Meanwhile, the six unforced errors that caused Barty to shoot out to 37 by the end of the game. She was rattled.
“I felt like I lost my way by pushing too much too much, pushing too much and not letting myself work in the points and really constructing points just the way I want to,” she said. “I’m just disappointed that I could not return the match on my terms.”
For the second consecutive year, Barty blew a golden chance to lift the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup. Twelve months ago, she was the only top 10 player to reach the semi-finals at Melbourne Park, but could not take the chance and the eventual champion, Sofia Kenin, fell in a straight set in the penultimate round.
This year, Barty was perhaps even friendlier with the draw that would open up significantly over the course of the tournament. Top points on her half of the draw in Kenin, Bianca Andreescu, Petra Kvitova and Elina Svitolina were driven away early, leaving Barty with the unchilled trio of Muchova, Jennifer Brady and Jessica Pegula in her side of the draw in the quarterfinals.
Golden opportunities, like these, to win your Grand Slam home do not occur so often, and it is a great disappointment for Barty to squander two, in back-to-back years.
“It’s definitely heartbreaking,” she said. “But we go through everything and learn through all these experiences. Will it scare me off, will it destroy the fact that we have a successful start to our season? Absolutely not.”