Shelby Rogers shocked World No. 1, Ashleigh Barty, by defeating her 6-2 1-6 7-6 (7-5) in the third round of the US Open. The 43rd seed Shelby had the support of the crowd when she defeated her Australian opponent and acknowledged it when she said that they were in control of the match and were awesome. She didn’t want to leave and wanted to stay in the match by making “balls”.
Believe it, Shelby!
Shelby Rogers upsets No. 1 Ash Barty in a thrilling comeback in Ashe! #USOpen pic.twitter.com/bPkjsAfNlO
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 5, 2021
Barty was at first very short of her usual form and lost the first set but she got back her rhythm which was good enough to take the match to the fourth round. Barry had done a lot of work to regain control of the match but despite having a double break point lead, Barry conceded a breakpoint to Rogers instead as she looked tight when she first served for the match.
Rogers with the help of the crowd was able to match Barty’s service game and then the American created another break point opportunity for herself. A vintage forehand from Barry kept her in the match but Rogers took her game to the next level and it led to the last set being drawn at 5-5. In the tie break, both players were missing their routine strokes as they wanted to end it quickly but Barry conceded first and never came back after that. Barty’s forehand was error-prone and had 17 unforced errors compared to seven winners.
Both of them shared a warm hug after the match and Rogers was cheered on by the raucous crowd who was behind her throughout the match.
Top-seeded Barty said later on that it was disappointing that she lost because she couldn’t serve out the match and did turn the match in her favour but couldn’t quite finish it. She continued by saying that she will not dwell too much on this match and will reset now and go back to the drawing board.