3 minute read
Ashleigh Barty is two wins from becoming the first woman in 12 years to win back-to-back US Open doubles titles after reaching the semis with Victoria Azarenka.
Different partner, same result for Ashleigh Barty as Australia's tennis superstar took a giant stride towards notching another major milestone in her incredible 2019 season.
Barty powered into the US Open doubles semi-finals with fellow former world No.1 Victoria Azarenka on Tuesday with a 2-6 7-5 6-1 comeback win over top seeds Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic.
Barty teamed with American Coco Vandeweghe to topple Babos and Mladenovic in last year's final at Flushing Meadows.
That breakthrough earned Barty her maiden grand slam title after she'd lost all four major finals in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York with fellow Australian Casey Dellacqua.
A year on and the French Open singles champion is now two wins away from becoming the first woman in more than a decade to secure back-to-back US Open doubles crowns.
Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy was the last player to achieve the feat in 2006 and 2007 with Russians Vera Zvonareva and Dinara Safina.
Set to regain her world No.1 singles ranking next week, 23-year-old Barty and Azarenka will play either Viktoria Kuzmoza and Aliaksandra Sasnovich or third seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Yifan Xu in the semi-finals.
Barty's Fed Cup teammate Samantha Stosur, meanwhile, is through to the final four of the mixed doubles with Rajeev Ram.
Stosur and Ram accounted for sixth seeds Demi Schuurs and Henri Kontinen 4-6 6-4 14-12 in a super tiebreaker and will face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jamie Murray in the semi-finals.
