Australian world number one Ash Barty has crashed out of the US Open to hometown hope Shelby Rogers in front of a deafening crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Rogers was beaten by Barty four times this year alone, but in the third round in New York the American flipped the script to win 6-2, 1-6, 7-6.
“I’m not sure I can [explain what happened],” Rogers said in disbelief after the victory.
“I tried to fight for every point, that’s so cliché, I’m sorry. You guys [the crowd] were awesome, I didn’t want to leave.
“I just said, ‘Make balls, try to stay in this match, it can’t get worse, you’ve lost to her every time, so try something different’.”
The US supporters almost willed on Rogers to claim the upset, getting louder and louder as Barty crumbled.
Barty had a slow start, losing the opening set due to 17 unforced errors, before clicking into gear and claiming the second with ease.
However Rogers changed her tactics and stayed in points in the third set as the Queenslander failed to convert multiple opportunities serving for the match before limping to a tiebreak, where she ultimately failed to turn around Rogers’ incredible momentum.
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Rogers expressed her gratitude to the enthusiastic crowd, who she described as “next level” this year.
“Thank you for picking me tonight. You guys are in control of the tournament,” she said.
“I’m just so excited to be moving on to the next round. I couldn’t have done it without you guys.”
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Referencing her losing record to Barty, Rogers said she took some inspiration from a video she had watched before her evening match against the Australian.
“This morning I was watching a video of Vitas Gerulaitis saying that nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row,” she said in her on-court interview.
“I only got to six!”
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It was a rough day for the Aussie women with Ajla Tomljanovic also going down to fourth seed Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 6-2, in the earlier match.
It ended a career-best run for Tomljanovic at the US Open but her performance was still a promising sign off the back of reaching the Wimbledon quarter-final in July.
For Tomljanovic it was her failure to convert five break points which proved most costly against Pliskova.
The Aussie is still competing in the women’s doubles with her second-round match alongside German Andrea Petkovic scheduled for tomorrow.
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