Ash Barty is one win away from reclaiming her world number female tennis player crown after progressing to the Cincinnati Open’s semi-final.
Barty again had to overcome a sloppy first set where she led 5-2 before dropping the set to Greece’s Maria Sakkari 5-7.
It was the second straight day that the Australian had to rally back after dropping the first set. She had to fight off match point in a three-set thriller with Anett Kontaveit on Friday
From there, the French Open champion rediscovered her slicing backhand and, with 11 winners and just four unforced errors, took the second set 6-2 before winning the third 6-0.
If Barty can win her semi-final against Svetlana Kuznetsova, she’ll overtake Naomi Osaka in the rankings.
Semifinals in Cincy ☀️ @CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/1WY5Xe7acC
— Ash Barty (@ashbar96) August 16, 2019
Osaka had to retire two sets into her quarter final with Sofia Kenin with a knee injury. The defending U.S Open champion will have a MRI to assess the damage ahead of the Open kicking off on Tuesday week.
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Kuznetsova reached the semifinal by beating third-seeded Karolina Pliskova 3-6 7-6 (2) 6-3.
“Still not quite there, but we’re getting better and better each match,” Barty said.
“I think that’s the beauty of being able to stay alive in the tournament is to give myself an opportunity to keep getting better.
“I think I’m still aiming to obviously do very well here, but the big picture is New York in 10 days’ time.”
