Barty opens her 2022 season with win over Gauff in Adelaide

Associated PressJan 5, 2022, 11:25 AM EST

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ADELAIDE, Australia — Top-ranked Ash Barty had a tough opener to her 2022 season, having to rally from a set and a break down to beat 17-year-old American Coco Gauff 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the second round of the Adelaide International.

The Wimbledon champion dropped serve twice in the first set and was 4-2 down, facing another break point, in the second before recovering to win 11 of the last 13 games.

A two-time major winner, Barty is aiming to be the first Australian woman to win her home major since Chris O’Neil in 1978.

Barty reached the Australian Open semifinals in 2020 and the quarterfinals in 2019 and last year.

She had a bye in the first round at Adelaide, one of the main tune-up tournaments for the Australian Open which starts Jan. 17.

“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 made me hit a lot of balls tonight and I got better and better as the match wore on so it was nice to come out here and get some court time.”

The second and third seeds didn’t survive the second round.

Second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka had an upset 7-6 (6), 6-1 loss to No. 100-ranked Kaja Juvan and Shelby Rogers fended off third-seeded Maria Sakkari 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-4.

Sabalenka, a semifinalist at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year, wasted a set point as she struggled with her serve in the tiebreaker. She then had 11 double-faults in the second set to give her 18 in total for the match.

The win was Juvan’s first against a Top 10 player and earned her a spot in the quarterfinals.

“I was a little bit scared at first because she’s incredible and she has done so many things really, really well,” Juvan said. “But on the other hand, it’s the start of the season, it depends on the day a little bit, and I really believed that I could do it.”

Rogers had to recover quickly after she led by a set and a break and then lost seven straight games to Sakkari.

“It’s nice to start with a big win like that,” Rogers said. “She’s coming off an incredible season last year and she’s such a great competitor. So I knew I had to bring my best tennis, whatever that looks like at the beginning of the year.”

Rogers will face seventh-seeded Elena Rybakina in the quarterfinals.

Travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic mean there’s a crammed schedule of tournaments before the Australian Open.

The WTA 500 event in Adelaide is one of three women’s tournaments this week, including two in the so-called Summer Set in Melbourne.

In the Summer Set 1 tournament on Wednesday, second-seeded Simona Halep opened with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Destanee Aiava and Madison Brengle beat Hao Hibino 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4) to move into a second-round match against third-seeded Veronika Kudermetova, who edged Viktoria Kuzmova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6).

In the Summer Set 2 tournament, 2017 U.S. Open finalist Madison Keys had a 6-3, 7-6 (2) win over Harriet Dart to move into a quarterfinal match against third-seeded Daria Kasatkina.

The main men’s event this week is the 16-team ATP Cup in Sydney, with Daniil Medvedev aiming to help Russia defend its title. Rafael Nadal is playing in a tune-up tournament in Melbourne.

After months of uncertainty, No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic confirmed he’d received a medical exemption from Australia’s strict COVID-19 vaccine requirements and he was heading to Melbourne in a bid to defend his Australian Open title.

Cirstea beats Sabalenka at Miami; night matches rained out

Associated PressMar 29, 2023, 11:57 PM EDT

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Sorana Cirstea advanced to her first semifinal of a WTA 1000 event in a decade, beating Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-4 at the Miami Open on Wednesday.

The 32-year-old Cirstea beat the highest-ranked opponent of her career by knocking off the second-ranked Sabalenka. Cirstea previously defeated No. 4 Caroline Garcia this month at Indian Wells and topped Garcia again in the second round at Miami.

“I think I’m a bit speechless,” Cirstea said. “I came out knowing that it’s going to be a really tough match. Aryna hits so hard, so I knew I had to hold my ground, and I’m very, very happy with my performance today.”

The 74th-ranked Romanian, who has two career singles titles, will face either Petra Kvitova and Ekaterina Alexandrova in the semifinals. The Kvitova-Alexandrova match had been scheduled for Wednesday night but was postponed to Thursday because of rain; also postponed was the men’s match between top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz and No. 10 Taylor Fritz.

Alexandrova advanced on Tuesday when Bianca Andreescu suffered a left ankle injury and left the court in a wheelchair. On Wednesday, the 22-year-old Andreescu tweeted that she tore two ligaments in her ankle and will be out indefinitely.

“It’s tough to say exactly how long it will take, but let’s just say it could’ve been much worse!! I’m going to take it day by day, and I am optimistic that with the right work, rehab, and preparation, I’ll be back on court soon,” the 2019 U.S. Open champion said in her social media post.

Sabalenka had six double faults, three of them on break points, and made 21 unforced errors to just nine for Cirstea.

“I guess people like to keep count of the age, the years, the results, but I never do that. I just mind my own business, work hard, do my thing, believe in my game, work with my coach Thomas Johansson – we just started in December and so far, I think it’s going great,” Cirstea said.

In the men’s draw, 11th-ranked Jannik Sinner beat Emil Ruusuvuori 6-3, 6-1.

Elena Rybakina hits 10 aces in Miami for 12th straight win

Associated PressMar 28, 2023, 9:50 PM EDT

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina extended her winning streak to 12 matches by delivering 10 aces – her fourth consecutive outing with at least that many – in a 6-3, 6-0 victory over 25th-seeded Martina Trevisan in the Miami Open quarterfinals.

Rybakina has 46 aces through four matches at the hard-court tournament in Florida and a WTA-leading 201 this season.

The 23-year-old, who represents Kazakhstan, improved to 20-4 in 2023, including a run to the Australian Open final in January and a title at Indian Wells, California, last week.

She is trying to become only the fifth player to win the women’s trophies at Indian Wells and Miami in the same season. Top-ranked Iga Swiatek did it a year ago; she withdrew from Miami this time because of a rib injury.

“Of course it would be amazing to achieve something like that,” the 10th-seeded Rybakina said about the prospect of completing what’s known as the Sunshine Double, “but it’s still far away.”

So far in Rybakina’s career, 13 of her 18 semifinal appearances have come on hard courts. She will face No. 3 Jessica Pegula for a berth in the final after the American fought off two match points and outlasted No. 27 Anastasia Potapova 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2) in a match that ended just before 1:30 a.m. after play had been delayed by rain.

“I haven’t been that physically tired in just a really long time,” Pegula said. “Just the humidity was taking so much out of me, and I haven’t been able to play in humidity like that in a while. It was just really tough, so really, it was just pure will.”

Trevisan reached the French Open semifinals in 2022.

In fourth-round men’s action Tuesday, No. 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was beaten 7-6 (4), 6-4 by No. 14 Karen Khachanov, while defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz and Jannik Sinner all beat seeded opponents in straight sets.

Alcaraz, who returned to No. 1 in the ATP rankings last week, got past Australian Open semifinalist Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-4 to set up a meeting against Fritz, the top-ranked American man and seeded ninth in Miami.

Fritz compiled twice as many winners, 22, as unforced errors, 11, and only dropped serve once during a 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 7 Holger Rune. That put Fritz into his first quarterfinal in seven appearances in Miami – and his first matchup against Alcaraz, a 19-year-old from Spain who won the U.S. Open in September for his first Grand Slam title.

“I’m really excited for it,” Fritz said. “I think that a lot of people are really excited for that, too.”

No. 10 Sinner eliminated No. 6 Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-4 and has yet to drop a set in the tournament.

Sinner’s next opponent will be unseeded Emil Ruusuvuori, a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 winner against No. 26 Botic van de Zandschulp.

No. 4 Daniil Medvedev, forced to start late and off his scheduled court after the rain, beat Quentin Halys 6-4, 6-2. He will face American Christopher Eubanks, who edged Adrian Mannarino in a pair of tiebreakers.

Khachanov will play Francisco Cerundolo, a semifinalist in Miami last year, in the other men’s quarterfinal.