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Now or never for Barty as Osaka crashes out at the Australian Open

Roar Guru
21st January, 2022
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Roar Guru
21st January, 2022
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With defending champion Naomi Osaka out of the way, a golden opportunity has opened up for world number one Ashleigh Barty to finally bury over four decades of local disappointment and become our first homegrown Australian Open champion since Chris O’Neil in 1978.

As fellow title contenders Maria Sakkari, Barbora Krejcikova, Paula Badosa and Victoria Azarenka all progressed to the last sixteen, the tournament was turned on its head last night when Naomi Osaka was sensationally sent packing in three sets by Amanda Anisimova.

The 24-year-old defending champion, who had won her first two matches in straight sets with minimal fuss to suggest that she would not give up her title without a fight, started in typical style, breaking in the opening game en route to taking the first set 6-4.

However, Anisimova would start to work her way back into the match, breaking early in the second set and then holding the advantage to the end, winning it 6-3 to force a one-set shootout.

Games went on serve for most of what would prove to be a dramatic final set, before Osaka brought up two match points on the Anisimova serve in the tenth game.

But the American would refuse to wilt, saving each of them, then holding for 5-all. After both players held their serve in the next two games, a tiebreak would ultimately be used to settle the outcome.

An error on serve from Osaka saw her give up a mini-break, which Anisimova would immediately consolidate for a 3-0 lead. At 9-5, the 20-year-old would bring up four match points, but would only need one, sending down her eleventh ace to seal the upset of the tournament.

This marks the second time that Anisimova has beaten a defending champion at a Major tournament, doing likewise when she dealt Simona Halep a straight-sets defeat in the quarter-finals of the 2019 French Open.

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She proceeded to face Ashleigh Barty in the semi-finals, where she came from 5-0 down to steal the first set in a tiebreak, then led by a break in the second and third before ultimately going down to the eventual champion in three sets.

For Osaka, this marks the fourth instance from as many attempts that she has had her title defence ended before the quarter-finals at a Major.

Naomi Osaka plays a backhand

Naomi Osaka (Photo by Fred Lee/Getty Images)

At last year’s US Open, the Japanese star was in a position where she served for a straight-sets win against Leylah Fernandez in the third round, only to then lose in three sets and watch on as the Canadian went on to reach her first Major final.

Her previous attempt to defend an Australian Open title also ended in the third round in 2020, where she was beaten in straight sets by Coco Gauff, whom she’d beaten in the same round at the US Open the previous year before losing to Belinda Bencic in the last sixteen.

Osaka will plummet out of the top 80 when the rankings are updated after the Australian Open; this was because she was defending maximum points from last year, and had also missed plenty of tennis in the past two years.

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Her early exit removes the biggest obstacle from the path to the final of top seed Ashleigh Barty, who lost to the Japanese star in straight sets in the third round of the 2018 Australian Open, back when both players were in the infancy of their respective careers.

With Angelique Kerber and Sofia Kenin also bombing out in the first round, this leaves 2012-13 champion Victoria Azarenka as the only former Australian Open champion left in the women’s draw. We’ll have more on her progress through the draw a bit later in the article.

As was the case at Roland Garros three years ago, Amanda Anisimova will now have to back up her huge win over a defending champion by next facing Barty, who continues to bulldoze her way through the draw as she bids to become our first local champion in 44 years.

The Queenslander continues to progress through the tournament with minimal fuss, thrashing 30th seed Camila Giorgi in straight sets to extend her winning streak to seven matches.

It was also the sixth straight match in which she has not dropped serve, while she has now not been broken in 57 consecutive service games. At one stage in the second set, though, she faced a 0-40 deficit only to dig her way out of trouble against the 30-year-old Italian.

The 25-year-old will no doubt have heard about the massive news of Naomi Osaka crashing out of the tournament half an hour after her win over Giorgi, a result which has only seen the Ipswich native firm in favouritism for the title.

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But she will no doubt be aware of a player who at 20 years of age still has the tennis world at her feet.

As mentioned above, Anisimova’s career highlight has been reaching the semi-finals at the French Open, where she led Barty by a set and a break in both the second and third sets, before going down in three.

The Australian credited her stunning turnaround in that match as a major turning point in her career; she went on to win the tournament after beating Marketa Vondrousova in the final, and not long after ascended to the top of the rankings for the first time.

To the present, and despite the potential threat that Anisimova could pose after her stunning win over Osaka, the 25-year-old will start a hot favourite to reach the quarter-finals for the fourth year in a row.

But even with Naomi Osaka out of the way, Barty will not want to get ahead of herself, having suffered two of her most frustrating defeats at the Australian Open in each of the past two years.

In the semi-final in 2020, she held set points in each set against Sofia Kenin, only to lose in straight sets, while in the quarter-finals last year she led by a set and a break before being undone by a controversial medical time-out taken by Karolina Muchova, going down in three sets.

Ash Barty in her 2nd Round match

(Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

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Several of her other title contenders continue to impress at the Australian Open as we enter the second week of the tournament.

Greek fifth seed Maria Sakkari, who looms as a potential quarter-final opponent for Barty, disposed of Russian Veronica Kudermetova in straight sets to book a clash with 21st seed Jessica Pegula.

The Barty vs Anisimova match aside, we also have two more Sunday fourth-round blockbusters to look forward to.

In the battle of past and present French Open champions, reigning titlist Barbora Krejcikova came from a set and break down to defeat 2017 winner Jelena Ostapenko and set up a clash with Victoria Azarenka, who thrashed 15th seed Elina Svitolina for the loss of just two games.

As mentioned above, Azarenka is now the only former champion remaining in the draw and while nearly a decade has passed since she won back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013, she has so far this week shown the form that also propelled her to the top of the rankings during that time.

In the former year, she defeated Maria Sharapova by 6-3, 6-0 in a women’s final where it was earplugs, not face masks, that were a must.

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To the present, and from three straight-sets victories, she has dropped no more than three games, and in each of her past two matches dropped no more than two in a set.

The Belarussian, now 32 and with her son Leo having just turned five, now faces a good test of her late career resurgence when she comes up against Krejcikova at a Major for the first time.

It will be her first match against a top-20 opponent at the Australian Open since 2016, also the year she last reached the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park; on that occasion, she lost in straight sets to the eventual champion, Angelique Kerber.

The other fourth-round clash set for Sunday sees former world number seven Madison Keys take on in-form Spaniard, Paula Badosa.

Keys, the first round victor of 2020 champion Sofia Kenin, edged out Wang Qiang in a third-set super tiebreak to reach the fourth round for the first time since 2019, while Badosa edged out Marta Kostyuk in three sets to continue her impressive start to the year.

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In the men’s draw, seventh seed Matteo Berrettini survived a major scare, sneaking past 31st-seeded Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in a fifth-set super tiebreaker to reach the fourth round at the Australian Open for the second consecutive year.

The Italian, beaten by Novak Djokovic in last year’s Wimbledon final, won the first two sets and was seemingly cruising to victory before Alcaraz stormed back into the contest, taking the next two sets to force a one-set shootout.

Berrettini then appeared to roll an ankle in the second game of the deciding set, but would ultimately prevail after Alcaraz’s forehand failed to fire in the breaker, the Spaniard eventually surrendering after double-faulting on the Italian’s second match point.

He will next face another Spaniard after Pablo Carreno Busta needed four sets to defeat another outstanding youngster, Sebastian Korda, while Gael Monfils and Alexander Zverev also progressed to the last sixteen.

Miomir Kecmanovic, the player who cashed in on compatriot Novak Djokovic’s forced withdrawal from the tournament, also reached the fourth round after defeating Italian Lorenzo Sonego in four sets; he next faces French showman Monfils.

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At the time of this article going to print, Rafael Nadal and Aslan Karatsev were in action against Karen Khachanov and Adrian Mannarino, respectively.

Today, attention turns to the bottom halves of the draw, with Alex de Minaur and Christopher O’Connell looking to continue flying the flag for Australia when they face Pablo Andujar and Maxime Cressy in their respective third round matches.

A win for O’Connell could see him face new title favourite, Daniil Medvedev, who is up against Botic van de Zandschulp in what is a rematch of their quarter-final duel from last year’s US Open.

Daniil Medvedev celebrates winning the US Open

(Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

The Dutch player was the only player to take a set off the Russian at Flushing Meadows last year, but expect no mercy from Medvedev as he attempts to follow up his title win there by becoming the first man from his country to salute Down Under since Marat Safin in 2005.

A third round match that was projected to be between Angelique Kerber and Leylah Fernandez will instead be contested by the two players they lost to in the first round – Kaia Kanepi and Australian wildcard Maddison Inglis, respectively. For the latter, it will be her debut appearance on Rod Laver Arena.

Second seed Aryna Sabalenka, former French Open champion Iga Swiatek and former US Open champion Marin Cilic will also be in action on Margaret Court Arena.

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Matches to watch on Day 6
Rod Laver Arena
Day session – from 11:00am AEDT
Clara Tauson (DEN) vs [27] Danielle Collins (USA)
Kaia Kanepi (EST) vs Maddison Inglis (AUS)
Not before 2:00pm AEDT
Benoit Paire (FRA) vs [4] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE)

Night session – from 7:00pm AEDT
Pablo Andujar (ESP) vs [32] Alex de Minaur (AUS)
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) vs [10] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)

Margaret Court Arena
Day session – from 11:00am AEDT
[29] Tamara Zidansek (SLO) vs Alize Cornet (FRA)
[31] Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) vs [2] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR)
Not before 2:00pm AEDT
Botic van de Zandschulp vs [2] Daniil Medvedev (RUS)

Night session – from 7:00pm AEDT
[7] Iga Swiatek (POL) vs [25] Daria Kasatkina (RUS)
[5] Andrey Rublev (RUS) vs [27] Marin Cilic (CRO)

John Cain Arena
Day session – from 12:30pm AEDT
[14] Simona Halep (ROU) vs Danka Kovinic (MNE)

Night session – from 5:00pm AEFT
[24] Daniel Evans (GBR) vs [9] Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN)

The full order of play for Day 6 is available here.

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https://ausopen.com/schedule#!27336

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