MELBOURNE, Australia – Leading 6-1, 2-1 in her quarterfinal match against 25th seed Karolina Muchova, world number one Ashleigh Barty had a leg in the last four of the Australian Open and the nation’s dream of to crown her first home – champion raised since Christine O’Neil in 1978 was getting closer and closer.
Barty dominated Muchova in the opening set, continuing his dominant race this year at Melbourne Park. He scored 25 points in Muchova’s 11, made just six unforced errors and played a tennis mark that would have had the other four women – including Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka – more than a little nervous at the prospect of he faced her deep in the tournament.
But in scenes reminiscent of last year’s men’s Australian Open men’s final between world number one Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem, a controversial injury time turned the match upside down. Muchova used the break not to seek treatment for a previous abdominal injury, but to make up; after a break of almost 10 minutes, the Czech pulled out 11 of the next 15 games to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 and send Barty crashing out of her Slam home.
While Barty led his momentum to an early break to go 2-0 up in the second set, Muchova remained looking for answers. As the 24-year-old left the field, she signaled to preside over referee Carlos Ramos that she needed medical time. Muchova did not appear to be suffering from any particular illness, but she was nevertheless granted and left the court to receive treatment shortly thereafter.
“I started to feel a bit lost by the end of the first set and my head was spinning, so I took a break,” Muchova explained after the match. “They cooled me a little with ice and helped me.”
That 10-minute break from the match proved to be the catalyst for an amazing change that will probably haunt Barty for some time.
Muchova immediately returned to the level of the second set at 2-2 and out of nowhere the Czech played better tennis. Barty’s focus suddenly dropped to the balls that painted the lines of Rod Laver Arena in the first set and three games were sprayed wide and long. He threw balls into the net and doubled mistakes more often than we saw in all tournaments.
It was almost as if Barty thought the task was over and he couldn’t motivate himself in the top gear again.
The second set was put in Muchova’s pocket in 52 minutes and when he managed to break Barty in the first game of the decisive set, the aspect of concern on the Australian’s face became more and more obvious. For the first time in the tournament, Barty was not favored to advance to the next round.
A dizzy and shocked Barty continued to fight, but sprayed unforced errors all over the field, allowing Muchova to break again soon for 5-2. The Czech then served the match – securing his first berth in the semifinals at a Grand Slam.
“It’s a disappointment today, no doubt,” Barty said after the loss. “I would have liked to do better and be a little sharper in the next game [after the medical timeout]. I just made a few free errors in that game. I think for the rest of the set, that was the story. “
The change in impulse after the expiration of the medical period was strong. Muchova hit only one winner before leaving the court, but managed to hit 16 when he returned. Meanwhile, the six unforced errors Barty had made amounted to 37 by the end of the match. It would be noisy.
“I felt like I lost my way through overlap, overpressure, without letting myself work on points and build points as well as I would like,” she said. “I’m just disappointed that I failed to get the game back on track.”
For the second year in a row, Barty had a golden chance to lift the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup. Twelve months ago, she was the only player in the top 10 to reach the semifinals at Melbourne Park, but could not seize the opportunity and fell to eventual champion Sofia Kenin in straight sets in the penultimate round.
This year was perhaps even kinder to Barty, with the draw opening significantly during the tournament. The top seeds in her half of the lottery at Kenin, Bianca Andreescu, Petra Kvitova and Elina Svitolina have just been removed, leaving Barty with the unexpected trio of Muchova, Jennifer Brady and Jessica Pegula in her share of the draw. quarterfinals.
Golden opportunities, like these, to win your home Grand Slam are not so common and for Barty to waste two in the years behind, is a major disappointment.
“It’s heartbreaking, no doubt,” she said. “But we go through it all and learn from all these experiences. Will it discourage me, will it ruin the fact that I had a really successful start to the season? Absolutely not.”