MELBOURNE, Australia – Leading 6-1, 2-1 in her quarter-final against 25th seed Karolina Muchova, World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty had one foot in the last four of the Australian Open and the country’s dream of being home first crown-growing champion since Christine O’Neil got closer in 1978.
Barty completely dominated Muchova in the opening set, continuing the dominant run she played in Melbourne Park this year. She won 25 points against Muchova’s 11, made only six unforced errors and played a kind of tennis that the other four women – including Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka – would have been more than a little nervous at the prospect of facing her. deep into the tournament.
But in scenes reminiscent of last year’s Australian Open men’s final between Novak Djokovic and No. 1 Dominic Thiem, a controversial injury time-out turned the game on its head. Muchova did not use the break to seek treatment for a previous abdominal injury, but to unwind; after a nearly 10-minute break, the Czech won 11 of the next 15 games to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 and crash Barty out of her home Slam.
While Barty drove her momentum to an early service break to move up 2-0 in the second set, a flat Muchova kept on looking for answers. As the 24-year-old trudged off the track, she signaled to referee Carlos Ramos’ chairman that she needed a medical timeout. Muchova did not appear to suffer from any particular ailment, but it was awarded nonetheless and left the court to receive treatment shortly afterwards.
“I started to feel a little lost at the end of the first set and my head was spinning, so I took a break,” Muchova explained after the game. “They cooled me a little bit with ice and it helped me.”
That 10-minute break in the game turned out to be the catalyst for a stunning turnaround, which will likely haunt Barty for some time.
Muchova immediately broke back to the second set at 2-2 and out of nowhere it was the Czech who played the better tennis. Barty’s focus dropped and suddenly the balls that painted the Rod Laver Arena lines were sprayed wide and long in the first set and three games. She threw balls in the net and made double mistakes with more frequency than we had seen in all tournaments.
It was almost as if Barty thought the task was done and couldn’t quite motivate herself to get back into top gear.
The second set was pocketed in 52 minutes by Muchova and when she managed to break Barty in the first game of the deciding set, the worried look on the Australian’s face only became more apparent. For the first time in the tournament, Barty was not a favorite to advance to the next round.
A dazed and shocked Barty continued his fight, but shot casual fouls all over the field, allowing Muchova to break for a 5-2 lead shortly thereafter. The Czech then served out the match, securing her first berth in the semi-final at a Grand Slam.
“It is without a doubt a disappointment today,” said Barty after the loss. “I would have liked to have done better and the next game would have been a bit sharper [after the medical timeout]I just made a few loose mistakes in that game. I think that was the story for the rest of the set. “
The shift in momentum after the medical timeout was stark. Muchova had only hit one winner before she left the track, but managed to hit 16 when she returned. Meanwhile, the six unforced errors Barty had made by the end of the game had exploded to 37. She was upset.
“I felt like I was getting lost with overplaying, overprinting, not letting myself work into the points, and really constructing points the way I would like,” she said. “I’m just disappointed that I couldn’t get the game back on my terms.”
For the second year in a row, Barty has thrown a golden opportunity to win the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup. Twelve months ago, she was the only top 10 player to reach the semi-finals at Melbourne Park, but she couldn’t take the opportunity and fell in straight sets from eventual champion Sofia Kenin in the penultimate round.
This year may have been even kinder to Barty as the draw opened up significantly over the course of the tournament. The best seeds on her half of the draw in Kenin, Bianca Andreescu, Petra Kvitova and Elina Svitolina were ousted early on, leaving Barty with the unannounced trio of Muchova, Jennifer Brady and Jessica Pegula in her side of the draw in the quarter final.
Golden odds, like this one, to win your Grand Slam at home are not that common and for Barty to waste two, in years running, is a big disappointment.
“It is without a doubt heartbreaking,” she said. “But we go through everything and learn through all these experiences. Will it put me off, will it ruin the fact that we had a really successful start to our season? Absolutely not.”