Ash Barty has kicked-off her 2022 season with a roller-coaster victory over American rising star Coco Gauff at the Adelaide International.
The top seed was pushed to her limits throughout the tussle which lasted more than two hours. At one stage Barty looked to be on the verge of suffering a shock loss after trailing by a set and a break before fighting back to prevail 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. The encounter marked the first time the Australian had played on the WTA Tour since her third round loss at the US Open last September.
“This old body might be a little bit sore tomorrow morning I think,” Barty joked during her on-court interview.
“I felt like I played a pretty good quality match considering it was my first match in a few months. Coco played great and she forced me to hit a lot of balls. I felt like I got better and better as the match went on.”
Given her break from competitive tennis there were inevitably signs of rust from the reigning Wimbledon champion against the world No.22. Best illustrated by the 53 unforced errors she produced which was 20 more than that of her opponent. Nevertheless, she continued battling on the court against her opponent who notably started to tire as the match progressed into its closing stages. Barty broke Gauff in three out of her last six service games.
“I felt like I just wanted to be really clear on how I wanted to play. I wanted to continue playing aggressive, keep looking for my forehand,” Barty commented on her comeback.
“I felt like I went through a 10-15 minute period where I didn’t execute my forehand and wasn’t getting that momentum (in my shots).”
Barty is using this week to tune up her game ahead of the Australian Open where she will be bidding to become the first home player to win the women’s singles title since 1980. In the next round she will take on the winner of Sofia Kenin and Ajla Tomljanović. She has played Kenin six times before on the Tour and has won four of those meetings. Her only clash with Tomljanović was at Wimbledon last year when she won in straight sets.
According to OptaAce, Barty is the first women’s world No.1 to start her season by coming back from a set down to win since Serena Williams at the 2003 Australian Open.
