Barty blows big lead; Nadal stunned; Gibbs retires at 27

Ashleigh Barty of Australia fell to 25th-seeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech
Republic in the Australian Open quarterfinals. 2019 photo by Harjanto Sumali

   The home-country drought in the Australian Open will continue for at least another year.

   Top-ranked Ashleigh Barty of Australia blew a big lead today and lost to 25th-seeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals in Melbourne.

   Barty, the 2019 French Open champion, bolted to a 5-0 advantage in the first set while dropping only six points. She led 2-0 in the second set, and Muchova took a medical timeout after winning the next game. 

   "I was a bit lost on the court, and my head was spinning, so I took a break," the 24-year-old Muchova, who reached her first Grand Slam semifinal, said in a post-match interview. "And it helped me."

  No Aussie man or woman has won the singles title in the Australian Open since Chris O'Neil on the women's side 43 years ago.

   Muchova is scheduled to meet 22nd-seeded Jennifer Brady of Boca Raton, Fla., on Wednesday (PST) after the 7 p.m. semifinal between third-seeded Naomi Osaka and 10th-seeded Serena Williams (ESPN2). 

   Fans will be allowed to return to the tournament Thursday, ending the five-day COVID-19 lockdown in the state of Victoria.

   Brady, 25, eliminated compatriot and close friend Jessica Pegula, who was unseeded, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 to reach her second Grand Slam semifinal. A first-time major finalist is guaranteed.

   Both Brady, a former UCLA All-American, and Pegula, who skipped college, starred in Northern California Challengers. 

   Brady swept the singles and doubles titles in Redding ($25,000) in 2014 at age 19 and advanced to the quarterfinals as the top seed in Sacramento ($60,000) in 2017, losing to defending champion Sofia Kenin.

   Pegula, the daughter of Buffalo Bills and Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula, reached the Sacramento final in 2012 at 18 and the Stockton semifinals in 2018.

   Muchova edged Brady 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2) in the second round on clay at Prague in 2019 in their only previous meeting. 

   Fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev advanced to the men's semifinals with a 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 victory over fellow Russian Andrey Rublev, seeded seventh. 

   Medvedev, the runner-up to Rafael Nadal in the 2019 U.S. Open, will play seventh-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, who stunned the second-seeded Nadal 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 7-5 in 4 hours, 5 minutes. 

   Nadal, the 2009 Australian Open champion, had lost only once in a Grand Slam match after winning the first two sets. That occurred in the third round of the 2015 U.S. Open against Fabio Fognini. 

   Nadal and Roger Federer remain tied with a record 20 major singles titles.

   Medvedev is 5-1 against Tsitsipas.

   Rajeev Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley, advanced to the semifinals in men's doubles and mixed doubles.

   Defending champions Ram and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain beat unseeded Marcus Daniell of New Zealand and Philipp Oswald of Austria 7-6 (6), 6-2. Daniell, 31, announced last month that he will donate 10 percent of his prize money for the rest of his career to charity.

   Ram and Salisbury are set to face sixth-seeded Jamie Murray, Andy's older brother from Great Britain, and Bruno Soares of Brazil. Murray and Soares won the Australian Open and U.S. Open in 2016.

   Both Ram and Murray won a doubles title in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose, Calif., Ram in 2011 with former Stanford All-American Scott Lipsky and Murray in 2007 with Eric Butorac.

   In mixed doubles, sixth-seeded Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Ram downed third-seeded Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Mate Pavic of Croatia 7-6 (3), 6-3.

   Krejcikova seeks her third consecutive Australian Open mixed doubles crown after triumphing with Ram in 2019 and Nikola Mektic of Croatia last year.

   Kenin undergoes appendectomy — Kenin, last year's Australian Open champion, underwent an emergency appendectomy this week in Melbourne. 

   Kenin, who also won NorCal Challengers in 2017 and 2018, lost to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia last week in the second round of the Australian Open. 

   Gibbs retires — Former Stanford star Nicole Gibbs announced her retirement on Monday at 27. 

   Gibbs, a petite 5-foot-6 (1.54 meters), is ranked No. 172 after climbing to a career-high No. 68 in 2016. She reached the third round of the 2014 U.S. Open and 2017 Australian Open and the final of the 2018 Berkeley Challenger, losing to Kenin in the latter match.

   Gibbs went public with her battle against depression in early 2018 and overcame oral cancer in 2019.

   The personification of feistiness, Gibbs once stomped on her racket face during a match because she didn't like the string tension, and she likely had the most menacing stare in pro tennis.

   Win or lose, Gibbs answered reporters' questions thoughtfully. Whether she was asked about her depression or engagement to her now-husband, no subject was off-limits.

   Gibbs won three NCAA titles, two in singles and one in doubles, in her three years at Stanford.

   A strong social critic on Twitter, Gibbs plans to enroll in law school this fall and eventually work in public service.

Andreescu, 19, upsets Serena for U.S. Open title

   For the second consecutive year, a young upstart prevented Serena Williams from tying Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles in the U.S. Open final.
   At least Williams didn't melt down this time.
   One year after 20-year-old Naomi Osaka stunned Williams in a tumultuous final in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., 19-year-old Bianca Andreescu triumphed 6-3, 7-5 today in front of a staunchly pro-Williams crowd at 23,771-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium.
   The hard-hitting Andreescu, seeded 15th, showed no sign of nerves in her first major final until trying to close out the match. The daughter of Romanian immigrants, she became the first Canadian, male or female, to win a Grand Slam singles title.
   Andreescu lost in the first round of qualifying in last year's U.S. Open and was ranked No. 152 at the end of 2018.
   "Last year wasn't an easy period in my life," Andreescu, who earned $3.85 million for the title and will rise 10 spots to No. 5 in the world on Monday, said during the awards ceremony. "I was going through a lot with injuries, but I persevered. I told myself to never give up. I had a really good preseason with my amazing team. I thank you guys so much for sticking by me every step of the way, so I have to dedicate this win to all of you.
   "I just kept believing in myself. I kept working hard, and I just kept that momentum and confidence throughout this whole year. Hopefully, I can keep going."
   The eighth-seeded Williams, a part-time Silicon Valley resident who will turn 38 on Sept. 26, fell to 0-4 in Grand Slam singles finals since having her first child on Sept. 1, 2017, and undergoing life-threatening complications. Each loss has been in straight sets.
   "My team has been so supportive through all the downs and downs and downs and downs, and hopefully we'll have some ups soon," Williams, who was on her best behavior throughout the tournament, said with a laugh.
   Nerves played a big role in today's final, especially for Williams, as they have in each of her four losses. She double-faulted on break point the first three times she lost her serve, and her footwork was poor for much of the match.
   Andreescu raced to a 5-1 lead in the second set, but Williams saved a championship point and reeled off the next four games. After Andreescu held for 6-5, she converted her third championship point with a forehand winner off a Williams second serve.
   Earlier, Bethanie Mattek-Sands of Phoenix and Jamie Murray of Great Britain won the mixed doubles title for the second straight year. Unseeded, they knocked off top-seeded Hao-Ching Chan of Chinese Taipei and Michael Venus of New Zealand 6-2, 6-3. Murray, Andy Murray's older brother, also won the 2017 crown with Martina Hingis.

Kerber shocks Serena for first Grand Slam title

Angelique Kerber poses with a stuffed bear, the symbol
of California and San Francisco-based Bank of the West,
after winning the title at Stanford last August.
Photo by Mal Taam

   Less than six months after winning the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, Angelique Kerber earned her first Grand Slam title in stunning fashion.
   Kerber, who lost in the first round of last year's Australian Open and survived a match point in the opening round this year, shocked Serena Williams 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 today in Melbourne.
   "When I was match point down (in the first round), I actually had one leg in the plane back to Germany," Kerber, fighting back tears of joy, told the crowd afterward. "I got a second chance, and I took that chance to be here in the finals to play against Serena. I'm really honored to be in this final and to win it. My dream came true tonight.
   "My whole life I was working really hard, and now I'm here, and I can say I'm a Grand Slam champion, and it sounds really crazy. These have been the best two weeks of my life."
   Kerber, seeded seventh, played her trademark outstanding defense against Williams and showed unusual composure in her first major final.
   The top-seeded Williams, meanwhile, was jittery in her attempt to tie Steffi Graf -- Kerber's fellow German, idol and mentor -- for second place with 22 Grand Slam singles titles. Margaret Court of Australia has 24.
   Williams, who committed 46 unforced errors to Kerber's 13, succumbed to nerves and a gritty, inspired opponent for the second straight Grand Slam tournament.
   Trying to complete the first calendar-year Grand Slam since Graf in 1988, Williams lost to unseeded Italian Roberta Vinci, playing in her first major semifinal at age 32, in the U.S. Open in one of the biggest upsets in sports history.

Serena Williams displays the Bank of the West trophy
after beating Kerber for the 2014 title. Tri Nguyen/
TryNguyenPhotography.com

   Kerber, a 28-year-old left-hander, broke Williams' serve to lead 4-2 in the third set on her fifth break point of the game. Kerber then held serve at love for 5-2, but the title would not come easily.
   Williams, 34, fought back to serve at 4-5. From deuce, she netted a cross-court forehand and floated a forehand volley long to end the 2-hour, 8-minute battle.
   Kerber, who became the first German woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Graf in the 1999 French Open, tossed her racket and fell flat on her back along the baseline with her arms outstretched above her head. Once she rose, Williams graciously walked to Kerber's side of the net, gave her opponent a warm smile and embraced the euphoric champion.
   "Angie, congratulations," Williams, the defending and six-time Australian Open champion, said during the awards ceremony. "You really deserved it. Let me be the first to congratulate you. I hope you enjoy this moment."
   Williams, who smiled and laughed with Kerber during the ceremony, was the happiest loser of a Grand Slam final in memory. It helps when you've won 21 of them, but she also might have been relieved that she won't have to relive the pressure of pursuing a calendar-year Grand Slam in 2016.
   Williams had been 5-1 against Kerber with a four-match winning streak. In their last meeting before today, Williams triumphed 7-6 (1), 6-3 in the 2014 Bank of the West Classic for her third Stanford title. Kerber led 5-1 in the first set and had two set points at 5-2.
   In last year's Bank of the West final, Kerber defeated 6-foot-1 (1.86-meter) Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. Williams, citing a right elbow injury, withdrew before the Aug. 3-9 tournament.
   Kerber will rise from No. 6 to a career-high No. 2 behind Williams when the new rankings are released on Monday.

Jamie Murray, shown at the U.S. Open last Septem-
ber, and Bruno Soares won their first Grand Slam
men's doubles title today. Photo by Paul Bauman 

   The Australian Open men's doubles final followed Kerber's dramatic victory. Seventh-seeded Jamie Murray of Great Britain and Bruno Soares of Brazil, playing their first Grand Slam tournament together, outlasted unseeded Daniel Nestor of Canada and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.
   It was the maiden Grand Slam men's doubles title for both Murray, who was playing in his third straight major final, and Soares. The left-handed Murray will turn 30 on Feb. 13, and Soares will be 34 on Feb. 27.
   Murray won the doubles title in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose in 2007 with American Eric Butorac, and younger brother Andy Murray took the singles title.
   Nestor, 43, and Stepanek, 37, were the oldest men's doubles finalists in a Slam in the Open era. Nestor has won eight majors in the event and Stepanek two. Both have captured the Australian Open once, Nestor in 2002 with Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Stepanek in 2012 with Leander Paes of India.
   Stepanek swept the singles and doubles titles in the 2009 SAP Open. He played doubles with Tommy Haas of Germany.
   Andy Murray is scheduled to play Novak Djokovic for the Australian Open men's singles title on Sunday at 12:30 a.m. PST (ESPN).
   Murray, who had said it would be too stressful for him to watch Jamie's final, made a surprise appearance in the players' box during the awards ceremony and filmed the trophy presentations on his cellphone.