MELBOURNE (AP) – Number one Ash Barty was eliminated by 25th seed Karolina Muchova in the Australian Open quarterfinals Wednesday.
Muchova won 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 and reached the semi-final of a Grand Slam for the first time. Her comeback triumph ended Barty’s attempt to become the first Australian to win the Melbourne title since Chris O’Neal in 1978.
“It’s certainly disheartening,” Barty said. But the sun will rise tomorrow. One wins or learns. Today I had to go through a great learning curve ”.
Muchova’s rival in Thursday’s semifinal will be Jennifer Brady, who advanced for the second time in a row at those instances in a Grand Slam tournament.
Brady beat Jessica Pegula in the American game, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
At times, Brady faced frustrations. The 22nd seed struck her racket midway through the second set.
Pegula, who was not seeded and advanced to the third round of a major for the first time, seemed to tire down the stretch.
For the second time Muchova was contesting the quarterfinals of a major. He started playing poorly and Barty had a 5-0 lead in a stretch in which he lost just six points. After nine games, Muchova had a single winning shot and 18 unforced errors.
At the start of the second set, Muchova requested a 10-minute break due to injury. Medical personnel took his pulse and temperature before he left the court.
When she returned, the Czech played much better.
Comebacks have been key for Muchova in this tournament. He turned around in his first meetings to win after being down 5-0 and 4-0.
In front of Barty, he began to move forward to make ground-level shots earlier. Barty pushed behind the line, became indecisive and erratic.
At one point, Muchova won eight of nine games. Barty finished with 37 unforced errors and had his serve broken four times in the final two sets.
Muchova’s only win against another player ranked in the top five in the world came against third-place Karolina Pliskova at Wimbledon 2019.
