After reaching her second straight final at the Sydney International, home favorite Ashleigh Barty moved into her first ever Grand Slam quarterfinals by producing a comeback win against Maria Sharapova. The 15th-seeded Barty lost the first set, but then won nine games in a row to win the second set and go 4-0 in the third.
Sharapova didn’t let Barty and her passionate supporters enjoy an easy finish. The 30th-seeded Russian, who had eliminated defending champion Caroline Wozniacki from the draw, complicated the encounter by breaking her 22-year-old opponent once, but the Australian eventually sealed the deal with an ace, on her fourth match point, 4-6 6-1 6-4.