World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty stunned by Karolina Muchova in Australian Open quarterfinals
The 24-year-old Czech made a wonderful comeback to reach his first career Grand Slam semi-final, a 1–6, 6–3, 6–2 win over Rod Laver Arena.
After her win, the No. 25 seed said she was fulfilling her childhood dream at the Australian Open.
“I put it in the form of a Rod Rod Laver, Stadium. I was just like, I hope one day it’s good to play there or see the arena or whatever. Now I’m just winning a match in the semi-finals. I’ll be able to make room. It’s amazing. “
On home ground, it was Barty, who came out of the block perhaps unknowingly the fastest, with a 5–0 lead in just 16 minutes, winning 20 of the first 26 points.
Mustova won a game at least in that opening set, though she could not find a way to prevent the resilient Barty from winning the first set.
After Barty extended their lead to 2–0 in the second set, it seemed like fans – they were allowed to watch the match from Thursday in the tournament after a five-day lockdown Kovid-19 “circuit-breaker” imposed by Victoria State Will give The government ends – will be able to see their fellow Australians in the semi-finals.
However, a medical timeout of about 10 minutes for Muchova seemed to galvanize the check.
“They just checked my (blood) pressure because I was a little lost, you know? I was spinning. So they cooled me with ice a little bit, and it helped me.
“(When I rebounded) I just tried to put a ball in and go for it. Played a little faster, going to the net. I think that was important until the end.”
After the break, Barty struggled to regain his rhythm and Muchova took advantage, winning 12 of the final 15 games.
She was down 5–0 in the second set against No. 6 seed Carolina Pliskova and 4–0 down from No. 18 seed Alice Mertens in the first set.
“I felt like I was in control of the match. I knew how I wanted to go about it, just lost my way a little bit.”
Munova will now take on US Open semifinalist Jennifer Brady on Thursday, with the winner finishing in her first major final.
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