BEVERLY HILLS, February 17, (THEWILL) – The upset of the Australian Open female competition has seen the exit of the home hopeful and world number one player in a match that did not go as it appeared after the first set. On the Rod Laver Arena, the 25th seed Karolina Muchova of Czech Republic recovered from a bout of dizziness to knock out Ash Barty in three sets 1-6 6-3 6-2.
Coming into the match, both players had progressed to this stage without losing a single set. Barty quickly changed that with a first set that was shockingly one-sided. Muchova looked untypically flat and short of confidence. What happened after revealed that it had to do with the dizziness.
The Czech required an extended medical timeout early in the second set to properly deal with it and, when she returned, a rejuvenated Muchova proceeded in stunning fashion to shock one of the top favourites of the Open Down Under.
She put her first set loss of 6-1 aside and beat her highly-rated Australian opponent by taking the next two sets 6-3 6-2 for the first Grand Slam semifinal appearance of her professional career.
The exit of the home girl Barty means the Aussies will go another year without celebrating the capture of the home Open prize by an Australian. Barty was presented with the opportunity to become the first Australian woman to win at the Australian Open since Chris O’Neil’s 1978 title but Muchova had other ideas.
In her post-match interview, the Czech described how she lost the first set: “I started feeling a bit lost. Ash started very good. She played almost like no mistakes-it was very tough. I was a bit lost on the court and my head was spinning, so I took a break. And it helped me.”
After winning just one of nine games before the medical break, Muchova went on to win eight of nine to complete her amazing comeback. It was characteristic of how she has advanced to this stage of the competition. Her earlier games attest to this strength of resilience in her character. She had previously rallied to wins after trailing 5-0 and 4-0 at Melbourne.
Standing on Muchova’s path to advancing to the final in the Open will be either of the Americans: number 22 seed Jennifer Brady and the unseeded Jessica Pegula. That semi-final will be in front of fans again as the COVID-19 restrictions are slated to be lifted on Wednesday night, and fans can return to the stands at Melbourne the following day.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
