World No.1 Ash Barty staged a magnificent comeback on Wednesday night at the Adelaide International, beating Coco Gauff to advance to the quarterfinals.
Barty was a point away from trailing 6-4 5-2, but found the range with her forehand just in time, recovering to defeat the 17-year-old American 4-6 7-5 6-1.
Barty’s fellow Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis followed her onto Centre Court and, in near-identical circumstances, recovered from a set and a break down to beat No.4 seed Frances Tiafoe 3-6 7-5 6-1.
The victory sends Kokkinakis through to his first ATP-level quarterfinal since August 2019, where Swede Mikael Ymer awaits.
It was Barty’s first competitive outing in four months, with her victory setting up a clash against either countrywoman Ajla Tomljanovic or Australian Open 2020 champion Sofia Kenin.
> DRAW: Adelaide International women’s singles
“It’s felt like an eternity since I’ve been back playing at home,” said Barty, who won the Adelaide International two years ago.
“It’s so nice to hear so many kids out here and so many Australian accents. Because you genuinely miss it when you’re away. And we had a big stint away from home this year, so there’s absolutely no place I’d rather be right now than here enjoying my time in Adelaide.”
Ash Barty, the humble champion! ❤️️
Watch: 9Go!
Stream: https://t.co/d1ItwXRxIH#9WWOS #Tennis #AdelaideTennis pic.twitter.com/p0KUg96Pgh— Wide World of Sports (@wwos) January 5, 2022
While Barty managed to survive a stern test, the women’s tournament lost two of its top three seeds on a turbulent day at Memorial Drive Tennis Centre.
Earlier on Wednesday, No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka suffered from a disastrous serving display as she bowed out in straight sets to Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan.
Sabalenka finished with an unsightly 18 double faults among 45 unforced errors to lose 7-6(6) 6-1 to the world No.100.
“I was feeling a little bit sorry at some points because I was like, OK, I know she’s not doing the best with the serve, and we all know how that feels at one point. So I know she can do it better,” said Juvan, who will next face either Anastasia Gasanova or Misaki Doi.
“But on the other hand I was just saying to myself, OK, focus, stay here until the end. It can turn at any point, so I was really just trying to stay there until to the end, and really fight.
No.3 seed Maria Sakkari followed Sabalenka onto Centre Court – and was eliminated 7-6(5) 2-6 6-4 by ever-improving American Shelby Rogers.
Barty: “I felt like I played a pretty good-quality match”
Rogers was the player who ended Barty’s 2021 season in the third round of the US Open, recovering from 5-2 down in the final set to stun the reigning Wimbledon champion.
That was in early September, and with such a long span between competitive outings, the rust was evident in Barty’s game.
After a high-quality first set, Barty’s forehand became increasingly erratic, handing Gauff a break point in the opening game of the second set.
“I wanted to continue playing aggressive, keep looking for my forehand,” Barty said. “And I felt like I probably went through a 10-to-15-minute period there were I just didn’t execute on my forehand and just wasn’t quite getting that momentum.”
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Although Barty saved four break points to eventually hold serve, Gauff continued to play purposeful, all-court tennis and broke the Australian in the fifth game.
She held for 4-2 and, as Barty’s forehand error count swelled to 20 against Gauff’s five, the teenager earned another break point for a 5-2 lead – until the match turned.
Barty escaped with a hold, then elevated her game to break Gauff back, levelling scores at 4-4.
Suddenly, Barty’s aggression, coupled with the heaviness of her forehand – especially now she was no longer giving Gauff so many cheap errors – meant she was in the driver’s seat.
Gauff grew flustered, and as the match entered a third set, her resistance waned.
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Barty broke serve to love to take a 3-1 lead, then deftly placed a backhand volley into the open court for 4-1.
Serving for the match, Barty trailed 0-40 but again served her way out of trouble, before slotting a forehand winner up the line to earn match point.
“I felt like I played a pretty good-quality match considering it was the first match in a few months,” Barty said.
“Coco played great; she forced me to hit a lot of balls tonight, and I felt like I got better and better as the match went on.
“It was nice to come out here and get some court time.”
Also progressing to the quarterfinals was No.7 seed Elena Rybakina, a 6-3 6-4 winner over Czech Marie Bouzkova.
Rybakina will take on Rogers for a place in the semifinals.
Kokkinakis: “It was looking ugly there for a minute”
For a set-and-a-half, wildcard Kokkinakis could not match the consistency and power of Tiafoe, who took an early 3-0 lead and then twice led by a break in the second set.
But Tiafoe’s level dipped slightly, and when Kokkinakis broke back to level scores at 3-3, the crowd came to life and Kokkinakis increasingly fed off their energy.
The world No.171 earned a set point in the 10th game, only for Tiafoe to escape with exceptional serving under pressure.
But two games later, Kokkinakis earned another set point on Tiafoe’s serve, and this time he converted.
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Early in the third set Tiafoe made another push when he earned two break points, only for Kokkinakis to save both of those and then break in the next game with a forehand winner.
Now ahead 3-1, Kokkinakis had irresistible momentum, while Tiafoe double-faulted to surrender serve again, falling behind 5-1.
Kokkinakis completed his second win in as many meetings with the American after two hours and 14 minutes on court, finishing with 38 winners.
> RELATED: “I’m willing to do what it takes to reach my potential,” says Kokkinakis
“I’m stoked,” Kokkinakis said during his on-court interview, at around midnight local time.
“Frances came out playing great. I had to raise my level, I had to hang with him. It was looking ugly there for a minute for me, but he’s pretty hot and cold, and when he’s hot, he’s really tough to play.
“I tried to weather the storm as much as I could, you guys (the crowd) were great trying to cheer me on, so playing in front of friends and family, playing at home, there’s nothing better to rally like that and come back from what looked like was going to be an ugly result.
“I’m just happy.”
Also winning through to the ATP quarterfinals in Adelaide were third seed Marin Cilic and No.7 seed Laslo Djere, who will go head-to-head for a place in the last four.