Sydney: Maria Sharapova, the ice queen of tennis, melted in the warm glow that swelled in the Rod Laver Arena on day seven of the 2019 Australian Open, lifting one of their own, Ashleigh Barty, into the quarter-finals here for the first time since Jelena Dokic nine years ago. Barty, the two-sport prodigy who returned from international cricket to tennis three years ago, had too much game for the tough 31-year-old Russian and won 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in two hours and 22 minutes to record one of the major upsets of the tournament. “I gave myself opportunities in the first set and could not take it,” she said, “but did in the second. She’s an absolute champion. She was never going to go away. I know that I can match it with the best. This is unreal, playing on a beautiful court in front of a packed house. There’s nothing better. • It is not beyond her to win Tuesday’s quarter-final against the eighth seed Petra Kvitova, who beat her in the Sydney International final last weekend, and went through here in a tick under an hour to beat the American teenager Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 6-1 in the opening match on the showpiece court. • Advertisement • “It doesn’t get any easier, but it’s just another challenge,” Barty said. “I’ve come agonisingly close against Petra before. I’ll just come out and give it ago, playing freely.” • Nor is it inconceivable that Barty could win this tournament, although the formidable presence of Serena Williams lurks on the other side of the draw. • Victory over Sharapova was not a shock – Barty, as the higher-ranked player walked on last, to deafening applause – but it certainly surprised Sharapova. She fought for every point, as always, but, even when she got back on the board to break and hold for 2-4 in the third, there was a sense that she was delaying the inevitable. • That feeling dipped as the finish approached and there were anxious moments for Barty as the former champion drew on her inexhaustible combative instincts. They got into a memorable dog-fight in the seventh game that included a breath-taking 21 shot rally which ended with Barty’s backhand drifting into the deuce tram-lines, and Sharapova held for 3-4. She had to save break point and followed it with an ace, her fourth. Sharapova needed to hold to stay in the tournament. • She had a gift from Barty who misjudged Sharapova’s floating crosscourt backhand and watched it drop legally for 40-15. She held – and the pressure was back on Barty. • The last game had all the tension of those that had gone before. The crowd craned forward at 30-0 to query a Sharapova forehand, but the umpire did not. Barty, unfazed, hit a winner on the line for two match points. Sharapova, screaming as loudly as she can ever have done, saved the first. A big Barty serve was called out – correctly – and she double-faulted for deuce. She aced wide, just catching the line. Barty dumped a simple forehand and they were back to deuce. Sharapova returned the favour and they were match point for the fourth time – and, fittingly, Barty sealed it with her sixth ace, right down the T. • This was a stunning result in many ways. Barty did not just beat an older champion trying to reach her 26th slam quarter-final; she got the better of an opponent in excellent form, who had put out the defending title-holder, Caroline Wozniacki, with some of her best tennis in years. It was only her second win over a top-five opponent in four years. • Sharapova had a winner’s look about her from the moment she arrived, but her tank ran out on Sunday. And that made Barty’s win that much more special.
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