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Miami Open: Ashleigh Barty wins after saving match point
Updated On: 27 March, 2021 07:59 AM IST | Miami | AFP
"There`s nothing like coming through a test like that," Barty said. "It was important in that match to stick to working and trying to figure it out as I went on. (I`m) just really happy I never gave up and happy I gave myself a chance to stay in the hunt."
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Ashleigh Barty. Pic/AFP
Australian world number one Ashleigh Barty saved a match point as she battled back to defeat Slovakia`s Kristina Kucova on Thursday and reach the third round of the ATP and WTA Miami Open. Top-seeded Barty, the 2019 Miami champion and French Open winner, dispatched 149th-ranked Kucova 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, advancing to a match with another Grand Slam winner, Latvia`s 54th-ranked Jelena Ostapenko who beat Belgian Kirsten Flipkens 6-2, 5-7, 6-3. Barty fired 15 aces, two in a rally from 0-40 down in the final game, to defeat Kucova after two hours and 27 minutes.
"There`s nothing like coming through a test like that," Barty said. "It was important in that match to stick to working and trying to figure it out as I went on. (I`m) just really happy I never gave up and happy I gave myself a chance to stay in the hunt." The 24-year-old Aussie avoided her first three-match losing streak since 2014 after having fallen to Czech Karolina Muchova in last month`s Australian Open quarter-finals and American Danielle Collins at Adelaide the following week. Kucova, whose only win over a top-10 foe came five years ago, forced a third set after Barty sent a forehand long to surrender the lone break of the second set.
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