Barty out, Williams in, Djokovic grumpy
MELBOURNE: Ash Barty suffered a dramatic collapse to crash out of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park yesterday.
Australia’s world No 1 capitulated from a set and a service break up in a shock 16, 63, 62 quarterfinal loss to Czech Karolina Muchova yesterday.
Barty never recovered after losing nine out of 11 games midmatch, after the 27thranked Muchova took a tactical medical timeout while trailing the top seed 61, 21 on Rod Laver Arena.
Barty had dropped just seven points while charging to a 50 lead in the first set.
Muchova took 21 minutes to finally get on the board.
Barty then broke Muchova for a third time in the opening game of the second set to continue her utter domination.
Then the quarterfinal turned spectacularly.
Muchova called for the tournament doctor after holding serve to trail 21, then took her medical timeout after having her pulse and temperature checked.
Asked if she was injured, the 2019 Wimbledon quarterfinalist said: ‘‘No. It was more they just checked my pressure because . . . I was a bit lost. I was spinning.
‘‘So they cooled me down a bit with ice and it helped me.’’
She returned to the court several minutes later and swiftly broke Barty’s serve.
Barty had to fight off another two break points to level the set at 33.
Mixing deep moon balls with delicate backhand drop shots, the Czech grabbed another service break to surge to a 53 lead, before snaring the set to level the match.
As Barty’s unforced error tally mounted, Muchova broke the Queenslander twice more in the deciding set before converting her first match point with an ace after an hour and 57 minutes.
Serena Williams beat world No 2 Simona Halep 63, 63 to reach the last four at the Open for a ninth time and set up a showdown with Naomi Osaka.
Williams hit some ferocious forehands and moved around the court with a freedom that she has not enjoyed for a good while to set up a meeting against the inform Japanese third seed.
‘‘I think this was the best match I have played at this tournament, for sure,’’ Williams said.
There were nine breaks of serve as two great competitors punched and counterpunched over lengthy rallies.
Reigning champion Novak Djokovic overcame several dips in form to beat Alexander Zverev 67(6), 62, 64, 76(6) and book his place in the semifinals.
The Serbian world No 1 hit back strongly after losing a tight opening set on a tiebreak but trailed in both the third and fourth sets before turning them around.
While the first set took an hour, Djokovic needed only 29 minutes to win the second.
But he went off the boil and Zverev moved into a 41 lead.
The Serb’s frustration boiled over as he destroyed a racket, leaving fragments of frame across the baseline.
Zverev was 030 ahead on Djokovic’s serve in the next game but Djokovic clicked back into gear, reeling off 20 of the next 24 points to move one set from victory.
Zverev moved into a 40 lead in the fourth set, but Djokovic hung on.
In comments made after the match, Djokovic claimed a ‘‘majority‘‘ of players do not want to continue with the tennis season if it means strict quarantines before tournaments.