Barty swings back into action, trades tennis for golf
Other Sports | April 19, 2022 11:47 ISTAsh Barty has signed on to play in an international golf exhibition just weeks after retiring from tennis while ranked No. 1 in the world.
Ash Barty has signed on to play in an international golf exhibition just weeks after retiring from tennis while ranked No. 1 in the world.
Her announcement was all the more stunning from an on-court perspective given her recent run of success: Barty had won 25 of her last 26 matches and three of her past four events.
Though there were no major events on the WTA Tour last week, the women's rankings still saw a shakeup with ranking points from last year's Adelaide 500 event dropped as it was held 12 months ago.
The top-seed became the first home winner of the Australian Open since Chris O'Neil in Kooyong in 1978 after holding off maiden Grand Slam finalist Danielle Collins 6-3 7-6(2) in Melbourne.
Barty extended her streak of service holds to 48 games and moved into the third round at Melbourne Park for the sixth consecutive year by beating 142nd-ranked qualifier Lucia Bronzetti 6-1, 6-1 in under an hour Tuesday in Rod Laver Arena.
Former Grand Slam champions Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka, Jelena Ostapenko and Sofia Kenin will also begin their seasons in Adelaide, bringing the total of major trophies held in the field to 12.
Krejcikova was the first woman since 2000 to win both the singles and doubles championships at the French Open.
Ash Barty bounced back from a disappointing loss at the Tokyo Olympics. Gold medalist Alexander Zverev carried over his momentum from Tokyo.
Barty is the first Australian woman to win the singles trophy at the All England Club since Evonne Goolagong in 1980.
Pliskova hopes to do something only three women managed to accomplish since the Open era began 53 years ago: beat the top two seeds en route to the title at the All England Club.
After skipping the US Open, which is being contested in New York without crowds, Barty has also decided against traveling to Europe for an event in Rome starting Sept. 14 and the Sept. 27-Oct. 10 French Open.
The 24-year-old further said that she is yet to decide if she will defend her French Open championship, with that event rescheduled for late September.
Novak Djokovic remained on top of the ATP rankings with 10,220 points and is followed by Rafael Nadal while Ash Barty has a got 8,717 points and is followed by Simona Halep in the WTA rankings.
Ash Barty beat former No. 1 Garbine Muguruza, 6-1, 6-7, 6-2 Thursday to reach the semifinals of the Qatar Open.
Garbine Muguruza beat Ukrainian teenager Dayana Yastremska 6-2, 6-4 Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Qatar Open.
Barty beat two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 7-6 (6), 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena and will next play Sofia Kenin.
Serena Williams defeated Tamara Zidansek 6-2, 6-3 while Naomi Osaka and Ash Barty got the better of Zheng Saisai and Polona Hercog 6-2, 6-4 and 6-1, 6-4 respectively.
Naomi pulled it together quickly in a swirling breeze on Margaret Court Arena, though, and beat Zheng Saisai 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the third round of the Australian Open.
Ash Barty won a total of four tournaments and was the only woman to reach the second week at all four major championships this season.
In the Barty-Sharapova tie, the Australian fired 18 winners, breaking Sharapova four times as the Russian made 31 unforced errors in her 6-4, 6-1 defeat.
Top News
Latest News
