2019 U.S. Open: Ashleigh Barty Loses in the Fourth Round

Second-seeded Ashleigh Barty, the 2019 French Open champion who was in the midst of a breakout year, crashed out of the United States Open in the fourth round on Sunday.

Barty looked sluggish and sloppy as No. 18 Wang Qiang of China beat her, 6-2, 6-4, and reached the quarterfinal of a Grand Slam event for the first time in 21 appearances.

Wang will play the winner of the match between No. 8 Serena Williams and No. 22 Petra Martic, scheduled for later Sunday. If it turns out to be Williams, it will be the first time she has met Wang on court; Williams pulled out of their scheduled match at the Miami Open in March because of a knee injury.

Barty became the second top-five women’s seed to lose at the U.S. Open, following No. 4 Simona Halep, who was upset by Taylor Townsend in the second round.

In addition to the French Open on clay, Barty also won tournaments in Sydney, Australia, and Miami on hardcourts; and Birmingham, England, on grass. She surged from No. 15 in January to No. 1 in June.

But she looked like a different player on Sunday.

Wang played consistent defensive tennis, while Barty hit 39 unforced errors out of 123 total points, including 24 in the second set. She also failed to convert any of her nine break-point opportunities.

It took four match points, but Wang finally sealed the match when Barty hit a backhand long on an 81-mile-per-hour serve.

Wang pushed Barty back behind the baseline for much of the match, but she also managed to return most of the balls Barty was able to hit in the court, waiting patiently for Barty to make the critical mistakes.

Barty gathered herself for one final push late in the second set when she had two break points with Wang serving at 4-3, 15-40. But Barty hit a backhand slice into the net tape and the ball bounced back into her own court. Then Wang converted a service winner to climb back to deuce.

There were four deuces in the game and Barty won two of them to give her four break points in the game, but Wang held firm. The final two points of the game were both mis-hits by Barty, a forehand into the net and a forehand long.

In another early match Sunday, No. 3 Roger Federer cruised into the quarterfinals, beating No. 15 David Goffin, 6-2, 6-2 6-0, in 1 hour 19 minutes.