For the first time in five attempts, Australia’s Barty succeeded in beating Petra Kvitova, and the victory happened just hours after the Czech’s attacker from the 2016 violent home robbery was sentenced to eight years in jail. The 7-6(6) 3-6 6-2 defeat ended Kvitova’s hopes of overtaking Naomi Osaka at the top of the WTA rankings, as the Czech needed to reach the final to have a chance of occupying the No.1 position for the first time in her career.
The twelfth-seeded Barty will play seed No.21 Anett Kontaveit in the semifinals, after the Estonian overcame a 4-0 deficit in the third set to see off Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei 3-6 6-2 7-5 and reach the biggest semifinal of her career.