US Open '21 World No. 1 Barty Out

World Number One Ash Barty Eliminated

SHELBY ROGERS defeated ASH BARTY 6-2, 1-6, 7-6

Unseeded American Shelby Rogers has executed the upset of the Women's side of the draw, defeating Australian world number one Ash Barty in a 3 set, two-plus-hour epic at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Barty will be left to rue missed opportunity having squandered 3 match points and being 5-2 up in the third set. Rogers rampaged back into the match however as she won 4 of the last 4 games to force a tie break. She went on to win the tie break 7-5.

This was Roger's first victory over Wimbledon champion Barty and couldn't have happened in a more dramatic fashion. With the home crowd urging their hometown hero on the ladies traded points on serve for the first ten points of the tie break. An errant forehand would be Barty's undoing, however, to the rapturous applause of the partisan crowd.

Barty, who is guaranteed to remain World number 1 for a 93rd week regardless of today's result, was composed after the match saying

“Not a match that I’ll dwell on for too long in the sense that there are so many ‘what ifs’. Millimeters could have changed things tonight. You accept that in tennis. That’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes and you move on it from it pretty quick.”

Shelby is making a habit of coming back from seemingly hopeless positions in her home Grand Slam. Last year she came back from 4 match points down to defeat 6th seed Petra Kvitova in the round of 16. Despite this, she seemed stunned while being interviewed post-match. Gesturing to the crowd she said

“You guys are awesome, I didn’t want to leave, I just said ‘Make balls, try to stay in this match. It can’t get any worse, you’ve lost to her every time, so try something different.’”

The hometown hero has set up a mouthwatering fourth-round clash with British young gun Emma Raducanu.