Exciting teenager Ashleigh Barty has dug deep to qualify for the Brisbane International women’s main draw with a gutsy three-set win over Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens.
The 17-year-old world No.190 saved five match points before turning the tables on Bertens to win 2-6 6-3 7-5 in the final round of qualifying.
“It’s great to come back from a few match points down. The last couple times I’ve been on the wrong end of it,” said Barty.
“Playing matches is great, and that’s what we play for and practice every day and do all the hard yards for. It’s really rewarding to win a few matches in a row. It’s a great start to my 2014. I’m really looking forward to the year from here.”
She booked a first-round showdown with former world No.5 and 2012 Brisbane finalist Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.
Barty emerged as a doubles star in 2013 after making three Grand Slam finals with compatriot Casey Dellacqua.
“For Casey and I the priority is still singles. Last year or this year we still put our priority on singles. It was just amazing that we had great doubles success,” said Barty.
“I think again this year we’ll both be playing singles and try and work out a schedule where we can play doubles in a few tournaments. It’s good this year that I can play a full schedule as well. That helps be able to play when we need to.”
But Barty will fly the flag in the Brisbane singles after two fellow Australians failed to survive the cut-throat qualifying event.
In the final qualifying round on Sunday, Jarmila Gajdosova – a former Brisbane quarterfinalist – bowed out to Briton Heather Watson 6-4 6-4 while Anastasia Rodionova was ousted 6-4 6-3 by Russian Alla Kudryavtseva.
Russian Alexandra Panova was the other to qualify for the main draw after downing Taiwan’s Su-Wei Hsieh 4-6 6-2 6-1.
In the main draw, Australian Olivia Rogowska lost in the first round 6-3 7-5 to 43-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan.
At 22, Rogowska was almost half her opponent’s age.
But the No.174 Australian was exactly 100 lower on the world rankings than the evergreen Date-Krumm, who initially retired after peaking at No.4 in 1995 before launching a comeback 12 years later.
In other first-round results, Wimbledon finalist and world No.15 Sabine Lisicki of Germany cruised passed Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3 6-4.
Still buzzing from her most successful year in which she downed Serena Williams at Wimbledon and made three tournament finals, the seventh seed made short work of world No.37 Rybarikova, extending her career record over her to 4-1.
And there was good news for Andrea Petkovic who chalked up a straight-sets 6-4 7-5 win over American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Meanwhile, former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki became the first major casualty, withdrawing with a shoulder injury.
However, the Danish world No.10 was still hopeful of contesting the upcoming Sydney International ahead of the Australian Open starting on January 13.
Sixth seed Wozniacki, 23, had been in line for a possible quarterfinal showdown with 17-time Grand Slam champion Williams.
Wozniacki had been scheduled to meet Slovakian ninth seed Dominika Cibulkova in the first round.
Wozniacki was replaced in the main draw by lucky loser Hsieh.
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