World number one Ashleigh Barty’s hopes of becoming the first Australian woman to win the singles title at the Australian Open since Chris O’Neil have been dashed following a surprise 7-6, 7-5 loss to 21-year-old American Sofia Kenin.
With the second and third seeds eliminated earlier in the tournament, Barty was the slight favourite to take out the grand slam – with her biggest hurdle thought to be white-hot fourth-seed Simona Halep.
However, her tournament came to a disappointing end against 14th-seed Kenin, who will now play the winner of Halep and Garbine Muguruza on Saturday, February 1.
It was an uncharacteristically error-prone performance from the 23-year-old, who failed to convert several break points in the first set, before electing not to challenge a shot during the tiebreaker that replays later confirmed was out.
Crucially, in the final game of the second set, Barty started with a double fault to virtually hand Kenin the match.
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