Number 16 seed Ashleigh Barty came back from a break down in the third set in her 6-2 5-7 6-4 win over Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova to advance to the semifinal of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open (a WTA Premier 5 tournament) for the second consecutive year. The Australian player lost the second set after coming just two points away from taking the win, but she bounced back by reeling off four of the last five games of the decider.
Barty scored her second win over Pavlyuchenkova on Chinese soil after beating her at the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai.
“It’s just nice to be able to back up a result from last year, it’s obviously always in the back of your mind, but knowing you have played here well before gives you that extra confidence to come out and play freely. I have been able to do that in my last couple of matches a little bit better, and I am certainly happy to be in another semifinal”, said Barty.
Barty converted on five of her eight break points and dropped her serve three times from the eight opportunities she faced. The Australian player hit 20 winners to 21 unforced errors, compared to Pavlyuchenkova’s ratio of 30-44.
Barty saved two break points and held her serve in a five-deuce third game. She reeled off four of the next five games from 2-2 to win the first set 6-2.
In the second set Barty rallied from one break down and came one game away from the win at 5-4 with a break-back in the eighth game for 4-4, but Pavlyuchenkova fought back by winning the final three games of the second set with a break in the 11th game at deuce to send the match to the third set. Pavlyuchenkova, who came back from one set down to beat Petra Kvitova in the third round, earned the first break of the decisive set in the fifth game but Pavlyuchenkova broke straight back to draw level to 3-3. After saving a break point in the seventh game Barty converted her third break point at deuce to close out the third set 6-4. Barty has reached her second Premier 5 semifinal of the season.
Barty will face either Dominika Cibulkova or Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinal.
“I set the goal at the start of the year that I wanted to stay in the top 20. I feel like in the top 20”, said Barty.
