Sick Barty leads the Aussie Open assault

ASHLEIGH Barty will be Australia’s top seed at the US Open if she wins her battle with a viral illness that forced her out of the Connecticut Open this week.

The Australian No. 1 has been seeded 18th in the women’s draw with compatriot Daria Gavrilova eight spots below, while Nick Kyrgios is the 30th men’s seed for the year’s final grand slam which starts on Monday at Flushing Meadows in New York.

Barty, who is seeded directly below the Williams sisters, pulled out of the Connecticut event because of sickness on Monday. The world No. 17 has been in solid form, winning eight of her past 11 matches on hard courts.

Barty’s only blemishes have been her early elimination from Wimbledon last month and two losses to world No. 1 Simona Halep — in a semifinal at the Canadian Open in Montreal and then in the round of 16 in Cincinnati last week.

Kyrgios, the only seeded Australian in the men’s draw, narrowly missed a spot in the Cincinnati quarter-finals last week to world No. 3 Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro.

But his performance was overshadowed by his behaviour in his match against Borna Coric, where he admitted to tanking in the second set before beating the Croatian.

Kyrgios joins James Duckworth, Alex de Minaur, Matt Ebden, John Millman, Jordan Thompson and wildcard Jason Kubler in the men’s singles event. Exciting youngsters Marc Polmans, Max Purcell, Alex Bolt and journeyman John-Patrick Smith are contesting qualifying this week.

Rising 20-year-old Lizette Cabrera has won an eightstrong playoff to secure Australia’s reciprocal wildcard into the women’s singles. Cabrera joins Barty, Gavrilova, former champion Samantha Stosur and Ajla Tomljanovic in the main draw. Destanee Aiava, Jaimee Fourlis and Olivia Rogowska are hoping to qualify.