Barty is first Oz lady to enter quarters in a decade
melbourne — Ash Barty didn’t want to play tennis. Didn’t want to watch tennis, or even talk about the sport. She took a break from the tour after the 2014 U.S. Open to explore another career — in cricket.
Yes, cricket. The game of wickets, tea breaks, of bowling maiden overs or hitting the ball for six.
A little more than two years after switching back from bat to racket, Barty has caught the attention of a nation after becoming the first Australian woman in a decade to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.
She beat five-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova, the 2008 Australian titlist with a profile that transcends the sport, in a fourthround match on Sunday that had the partisan crowd — including the prime minister — in raptures. They’re calling it the Barty Party.
“It’s amazing that it’s happening in Australia,” Barty said. “I have given myself the opportunity and the chance to play in front of the best crowd in the world on one of the best courts in the world and in my home Slam. There is absolutely nothing better.”
The great Rod Laver was there watching, in the stadium named in his honor. Other local celebrities were in the crowd and Prime Minister Scott Morrison was courtside in his green Aussie cap and with his family. So it was in vogue for Aussies to be watching. Anna Wintour, too.
There hasn’t been an Australian winner of the home Grand Slam in 41 years, since Chris O’Neil won the women’s title on grass in 1978. It took four match points and 2 hours, 22 minutes before Barty fended off Sharapova 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of a major for the first time, and becoming the first Australian woman since Jelena Dokic to reach the last eight at Melbourne Park. —