Barty comes from set down to beat Gauff

WORLD number one Ashleigh Barty came from a set and a break down to defeat American teenager Coco Gauff in the second round of the Adelaide International yesterday.

Barty, playing her first singles match since the US Open in September, gave herself some perfect match practice ahead of the Australian Open with the bruising 4-6 7-5 6-1 win over the 17-year-old.

Barty struggled to find her rhythm in the early stages as Gauff fired winner after winner, claiming a tight first set in 48 minutes. Gauff then broke the Australian in the fifth game of the second and appeared on course for an upset. But Barty broke back at 3-4 to level proceedings, then broke again at 6-5 to get back on terms.

She ran away with the third against an increasingly dejected Gauff, wrapping up the match in two hours, 12 minutes.

“I feel like I played a pretty good-quality match, considering it was my first match in a few months,” Barty, who ended her season after the US Open because of the pandemic, said. “I felt like I got better and better as the match went on.”

Earlier, Aryna Sabalenka’s Open preparations took a hit when the world number two exited in the second round.

The Belarusian, who is yet to win a Grand Slam, self-destructed on her serve as 100th-ranked Kaja Juvan notched the biggest win of her career with a 7-6 (8/6) 6-1 victory. Sabalenka servd 18 doublefaults in the match – 11 in the second set.

American Shelby Rogers continued the upsets when she ousted world number six Maria Sakkari of Greece in three sets.

After Rogers took the first set on a tiebreak and led 2-0 in the second, thirdseed Sakkari won six straight games.

But Rogers more slightly consistent in the third, winning 7-6 (7/5) 2-6 6-4 to set up a quarter-final against seventh seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.