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MELBOURNE: Top seed and home hope Ashleigh Barty’s Australian Open came to a juddering halt in the quarter-finals on Wednesday, just as fans were cleared to return after an eerie, five-day coronavirus lockdown.
Barty had raised expectations of ending Australia’s 43-year wait for a home winner but her campaign was ended by Czech surprise package Karolina Muchova, who stunned the top seed 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Muchova will face Jennifer Brady in the last four after the 22nd seed beat her fellow American and close friend Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
In the men’s draw, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev contest an all-Russian quarter-final and Rafael Nadal, targeting a record 21st Grand Slam title, plays Stefanos Tsitsipas in the night match.
As Victoria state’s six million people prepared to emerge from the snap lockdown, tickets went on sale for Thursday — heralding the end of an odd hiatus where matches were played in empty stadiums with fake crowd noises broadcast on TV.
Barty’s campaign, however, ended in front of 15,000 vacant seats at Rod Laver Arena in a stunning upset by Czech 25th seed Muchova, who came from behind to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal.
Muchova looked on her way out after Barty raced through the opening set, but after a medical timeout she returned to dominate as the Aussie crumbled.
“I was a bit lost on the court and my head was spinning so I took a break,” said Muchova, while Barty, a semifinalist last year, called her latest near-miss “heartbreaking.”
“Will it deter me, will it ruin the fact we’ve had a really successful start to our season? Absolutely not,” Barty said.