Barty suffers shock second-round
loss in Toronto
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[August 07, 2019]
By Frank Pingue
TORONTO (Reuters) - World number one
Ash Barty's preparations for the U.S. Open got off to a rocky start
as the Australian suffered a shock 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4 loss to American
Sofia Kenin in the second round of the Rogers Cup on Tuesday.
French Open champion Barty, playing for the first time since falling
in the last 16 at Wimbledon, was far from her best and Kenin took
full advantage, recording her first victory in four meetings with
the Australian.
"I wasn't able to adapt quickly enough, or well enough, to play a
match of the standard that I expect myself to play and I want myself
to play," said Barty.
"And Sofia served today in the big moments. She served particularly
well and got a lot of free points."
World number 29 Kenin failed to serve out the opening set at 5-4 but
did not let that setback derail her, remaining poised the rest of
the way even as Barty nearly rallied back from big deficits in the
second and third sets.
Kenin led 4-0 in the second only for Barty to win three straight
games and get back on serve. In the decider, Kenin broke twice early
for a 4-1 lead and Barty again threatened but finally ran out of
tricks on the fourth match point.
"I am just really tired to be honest," Kenin said. "Such a tough
player and it was a tough match and I am just so happy to have
pulled through."
Next up for Kenin will be either former world number one Victoria
Azarenka, who earlier beat hard-hitting Italian Camila Giorgi 6-2
6-2, or Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska.
With the loss, Barty could lose her number one ranking if Naomi
Osaka wins her second-round match on Wednesday or if Czech Karolina
Pliskova reaches the semi-finals.
Marie Bouzkova claimed the biggest win of her young career with a
6-2 7-5 upset of seventh seeded Sloane Stephens to close out the
action on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old Czech will next face either 2017 French Open
champion Jelena Ostapenko or hard-hitting Russian Anastasia
Pavlyuchenkova.
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Canada; Ashleigh Barty (Australia) plays a shot against Sofia Kenin
(USA) during the Rogers Cup tennis tournament at Aviva Centre.
Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
In other matches, seven-times Grand Slam champion Venus Williams was
eliminated in the first round with a 6-4 6-2 loss to Spaniard Carla
Suarez-Navarro.
Williams, who has now lost four consecutive matches, was ultimately
undone by a slew of unforced errors and double faults that allowed
Suarez-Navarro to reel off the final four games.
"She was just extra sharp," said Williams. "And I played a lot of
great points but just didn't put enough in a row."
Indian Wells champion Bianca Andreescu beat former Wimbledon
finalist Eugenie Bouchard 4-6 6-1 6-4 in an all-Canadian first-round
clash while fifth-seeded Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens reached the last 16
with a 6-2 6-1 win over Francesca Di Lorenzo.
Croatia's Donna Vekic beat American 14th seed Madison keys 3-6
7-6(5) 7-6(5) in the first round while Wimbledon quarter-finalist
Zhang Shuai beat Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova 7-6(5) 6-2 and will
next face Russian qualifier Ekaterina Alexandrova, who beat Japan's
Misaki Doi 6-2 6-2.
Among the other players to reach the Round of 32 in Toronto, which
is part of the U.S. Open Series leading up to the year's final Grand
Slam, were Czech Katerina Siniakova, German qualifier Tatjana Maria
and Polish qualifier Iga Swiatek.
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar/Peter Rutherford/Amlan Chakraborty)
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