Ashleigh Barty advances to Australian Open semifinals.
MELBOURNE, Australia — Topranked Ashleigh Barty is a step closer to ending a long drought for Aussies at the national championship.
Barty saved set points in the 11th game and another in the tiebreaker before seizing the momentum against two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in a 7-6 (6), 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena. She next faces No. 14 Sofia Kenin, who reached the semifinals at a major for the first time with a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 78-ranked Ons Jabeur.
Barty fended off eight of the nine break-point chances she faced in the first set before finally getting the upper hand when she won a 22shot rally, defending for much of it just to stay in the point, at 3-2 in the tiebreaker.
After clinching the first set in 69 minutes, she went on a roll to take a 4-0 lead in the second and take all the momentum away from Kvitova, who beat Barty here at the same stage last year before losing the final to Naomi Osaka.
Barty rebounded from that to win her first major title at the French Open, where she beat Kenin in the fourth round. Until she arrived in Australia, Kenin’s run at Roland Garros — which included a third-round upset over Serena Williams — was her best at a Grand Slam.
There’s a lot of local expectation riding on Barty, who is aiming to be the first Australian woman since Chris
O’Neill in 1978 to win the Australian
Open. The first major of the decade may see the end of the 42-year wait, and an Australian man hasn’t won since 1976. Barty is already the first
Australian woman since 1984 to reach the semifinals of the home Open.
Barty doesn’t expect to feel the pressure. She won her first title on home soil in Adelaide in the lead-up to this season’s first major.
“I’m not going to have anything but a smile on my face when I walk out onto this court,” Barty said of her next match.
Kenin and Jabeur were both into the quarterfinals for the first time at a major.
For Kenin, who was born in Moscow but moved to the United States as a baby and grew up in Florida, the degree of difficulty will only increase.
“I’m excited. Of course, [Barty’s] playing at her home, so it’s a little bit different,” Kenin said. “I played a lot of big names. I don’t think I’ve played anyone big in their home crowd. It’s going to be a different atmosphere obviously. But it’s exciting. I’m really looking forward to it.
Kenin is playing her best tennis, too. Her best previous run at Melbourne Park ended in the second round, when she lost to Simona Halep last year.
She finished last year ranked 14th, and could match Barty in one category: They were tied for most hard-court victories on the women’s tour last year with 38 wins each.
Rafael Nadal defeated Aussie Nick Kyrgios in four sets late Sunday to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam tournament for the 41st time.
The 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) victory allowed Nadal to join Jimmy Connors in third place on the alltime list of Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances, behind only Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Nadal was broken while serving for the match, then was unable to convert two break points in the next game but held his composure to clinch it in a tiebreaker.