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Opinion
Ashleigh Barty’s chances of becoming the first local champion at the Australian Open for 42 years have suddenly multiplied after she saw two of her biggest threats on her side of the draw crash out of the tournament within hours of each other.
After Barty overcome another early case of the jitters to defeat Elena Rybakina and become the first woman into the fourth round, the 23-year-old Queenslander sat back and watched on as Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka both suffered shock defeats at the hands of unheralded opposition.
Immediately after Barty’s match, Williams stepped onto Rod Laver Arena as she continued her bid to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles.
On the other side of the net was China’s Wang Qiang, whom the American defeated 6-1, 6-0 in the quarter-finals of last year’s US Open. Pre-match predictions had the 38-year-old mother as the warm favourite to win.
However, the 23-time Major champion would be in for the shock of her life as the 27th seed broke in the ninth game to take the first set 6-4 in 45 minutes – one minute more than what it took Williams to win their quarter-final duel in New York last September.
Wang then broke in the fourth game of the second and then had the chance to serve for the match, before the American broke back and forced a tiebreak, which she would dominate, winning it by seven points to two.
The stunned crowd on Rod Laver Arena then watched on as the tense final set went on serve for the first eleven games, before Wang sealed the biggest win of her career when the 38-year-old netted a backhand.
Ash Barty is in the box seat. (Mark Brake/Getty Images)
Wang now proceeds to a fourth round duel with Ons Jabeur, who also needed three sets to oust another former champion, Caroline Wozniacki, also breaking her opponent at the death to win it 7-5 in the final set.
Thus, what was originally fixtured to be a fourth round clash between two good friends in Serena Williams and Wozniacki will instead be a clash between two players who will be hoping to reach their first quarter-final at Melbourne Park.
Hours after Williams departed, third seed Naomi Osaka saw her title defence come to a swift end, thrashed in straight sets by the up-and-coming teenage sensation that is 15-year-old American, Coco Gauff.
Similar to the earlier Wang-Williams match-up, the last time Osaka and Gauff met was also at last year’s US Open, where the Japanese was the defending champion. On that occasion, the 22-year-old triumphed 6-3, 6-0.
But a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then and after Gauff repeated her upset first-round win over Venus Williams from Wimbledon last year, the potential was there for another deep run at the Australian Open.
The 15-year-old came from a set down to defeat Sorana Cirstea in her second round match, earning herself a shot at Osaka under the Friday night lights of Rod Laver Arena.
And she did not disappoint, breaking late in the first set en route to taking it 6-3.
The American then broke early in the second set for a 2-0 lead, but Osaka would break back before conceding another late break to fall behind 4-5.
Gauff would successfully serve out the match after the Japanese player netted a forehand in the tenth game, the final score reading 6-3, 6-4.
She now proceeds to face compatriot Sofia Kenin in the fourth round, with both players gunning for a maiden Grand Slam quarter-final.
While two of the biggest contenders for the title crashed out, there were no such problems for seventh seed Petra Kvitova, who thrashed Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova to progress to the fourth round.
The dual Wimbledon champion will next face Maria Sakkari, who put an end to Madison Keys’ run with a 6-4, 6-4 victory. It is the first time the Greek player, who switched apparels from Nike to Adidas during the off-season, has reached the fourth round at a Major.
But there was no such luck for her compatriot, Stefanos Tsitsipas, who went down in straight sets to Canadian 32nd seed Milos Raonic. Former US Open champion Marin Cilic also advanced to the last sixteen after reversing his loss to Roberto Bautista Agut from last year.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic endured little fuss in reaching the fourth round, thrashing Yoshihito Nishioka in straight sets, while in a late match that concluded just after 12:45am, Roger Federer edged out John Millman in a five-set cliffhanger after trailing by a break in the final set (and 8-4 in the super tiebreaker).
The victory, Federer’s first in a five-set match since the 2018 Australian Open final, was his 100th match win at Melbourne Park.
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