Aced up Barty breaks Halep in Sydney

Young Australian sets up perfectly for tilt at Open

Australian Ashleigh Barty broke Simona Halep’s serve in the final game to beat the No. 1-ranked Halep 6-4, 6-4 in a second-round match at the Sydney International.

It was Halep’s first match since last October after a lengthy layoff due to a back injury.

“I think it was a great match after almost four months since I played one full match, the U.S. Open,” Halep said.

“I think I played a good level of tennis. She played really well. Her slice was great today, so she deserved to win this match.

“But also I was very close to win. I had so many chances to break her and to take advantage, but I couldn’t.”

Halep said she was pain-free from her back injury but would wait to see how she pulls up on tomorrow.

“No pain at all. I’m happy about that. It’s a great sign,” she said.

“I will recover now, and I will see how I wake up tomorrow morning.”

Barty served five aces, no double-faults and broke Halep three times to reverse two previous losses to Halep last August.

“I finally learned my lesson,” Barty said. “She gave me a belting in Montreal. I learned a little bit more in Cincinnati, but today I knuckled down and really thought about it and really gave myself a chance.

“The biggest thing, I believed that I could I win. We’re both out here on the same court. Just very happy I was able to come out and execute.”

The 27-year-old Halep will be at the Australian Open next week in Melbourne without a coach after parting ways with Australian mentor Darren Cahill, who can longer commit to Halep due to family reasons. Cahill had coached Halep for four years.

In earlier first-round matches, 10th-seeded Elise Mertens beat qualifier Katerina Siniakova 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-2 and Anett Kontaveit defeated Monica Puig 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.

In the men’s event, Alex de Minaur beat American qualifier Reilly Opelka 6-4 7-6 (4) in a match suspended by rain after just one game on Tuesday night to advance to the quarterfinals against fellow Australian Jordan Thompson.

Top-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Guido Andreozzi 6-3, 6-4, third-seeded Diego Schwartzman beat qualifier Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-3, Yoshihito Nishioka defeated Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-1 and No. 8 Andreas Seppi beat Martin Klizan 7-6 (2), 6-2.

Belinda Bencic eased into the quarterfinals at the WTA Tour’s Hobart International, beating Australian wild card Zoe Hives 6-2, 6-4.

Seventh-seeded Kirsten Flipkens moved into the final eight with a 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-1 win over Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova 6-7 (3) 6-4, 6-1.

Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia continued her strong start to the new year, beating eighth-seeded Alison Van Uytvanck.

Top-seeded John Isner has been eliminated in the second round of the ATP Tour’s ASB Classic, losing 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-5) to fellow American Taylor Fritz.

Young American Tennys Sandgren beat third-seeded Marco Checchinato of Italy 6-3 6-3.