Ash Barty, Osaka advance in Australian Open tuneups in 3 units

Ash Barty seemed just like the world No. 1 within the first set, then struggled the remainder of the best way towards No. 52-ranked Marie Bouzkova earlier than finishing a 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 win in an Australian Open tuneup match on Wednesday.
In the third set, the 2019 French Open champion exchanged three service breaks early earlier than breaking Bouzkova within the eighth sport. She ended it with a service winner within the subsequent sport.
“Coming off a night match, I’m an early riser to I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night,” Barty mentioned.
“I felt in the middle of the match I pressed a little bit … but I was happy to get the win on my terms at the end.”
Barty will play American Shelby Rogers within the quarterfinals of the Yarra Valley Classic and will doubtlessly face Serena Williams within the semifinals. Williams was taking part in Tsvetana Pironkova in an evening match on Margaret Court Arena.
U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka additionally superior, but additionally wanted three units after a sluggish begin on what may simply be known as Wild Wednesday at Melbourne Park.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka reacts throughout her match towards Britain’s Katie Boulter at a tuneup occasion forward of the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill)
There had been 89 matches scheduled on the Australian Open web site on the center day of a compressed week of six tournaments together with three WTA occasions and three for the boys’s tour, together with the ATP Cup. The match insanity was due to a 14-day quarantine interval for all Australian Open gamers on their arrival, forcing all warmup tournaments to be held within the week earlier than the Feb. 8-21 first Grand Slam of the yr.
Osaka had a first-round bye and dropped solely 4 video games en path to her second-round win, so a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 371-ranked Katie Boulter was a change of tempo.
She didn’t thoughts the additional work.
“Honestly I like playing long matches, just because I can gauge the condition of the court and I feel my fitness gets better,” Osaka mentioned.
“I played a shorter match yesterday, so maybe subconsciously I made myself play a long match today.”
Also advancing had been third-seeded Elina Svitolina, who beat former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2, and seventh-seeded Elise Mertens, who beat No. 12-seeded Caroline Garcia 7-6 (1), 6-3.
ITALY INTO ATP CUP SEMIS
Italy is the primary workforce by way of to the ATP Cup semifinals after profitable the primary two singles matches towards France. Fabio Fognini had a 6-1, 7-6 (2) win over Benoit Paire earlier than Matteo Berrettini beat Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-2.
Italy stays unbeaten and warranted of topping Group C within the 12-team occasion following its 2-1 win over Austria on Tuesday.
In Wednesday’s different matches, Germany beat Canada 2-0 within the different early match. Jan-Lennard Struff beat Milos Raonic 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2) and Alexander Zverev held off Denis Shapovalov 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (4). Canada was coming off a gap loss to defending champion Serbia.