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Barty ends long drought with stunning win over world No.3

Australia’s Ash Barty has progressed to the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open in China with a remarkable win over world No.3 Angelique Kerber.

The No.16 seed jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead before being forced to fight for the first set, breaking her German rival in the 12th game.

From there the match was played on Barty’s terms and she took it out 7-5 6-1 in one hour and 19 minutes.

“She’s always very difficult to play against. She’s one of the best players in the world, and you have to come out here, enjoy and have fun, and try and play as well as you can,” Barty said after the win.

“(I played) very well here last year, and it was an amazing week with some amazing memories. It’s nice to be back on this beautiful center court, playing some good tennis and getting further and further into the tournament.”

The win was Barty’s first over a top-10 player since last year’s Wuhan tournament, when she defeated the world’s No.7, No.4 and No.10 players on her way to the final.

Since then the Queenslander had lost to No.8 Karolina Pliskova and twice each to top stars Elina Svitolina, Caroline Wozniacki and world No.1 Simona Halep.

Barty is the first woman into the Wuhan quarters and will face No.5 seed Petra Kvitova or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Ash Barty has upset Angelique Kerber in China. Pic: Getty
Ash Barty has upset Angelique Kerber in China. Pic: Getty

Aussie teenager fights through in China

Alex de Minaur is through to the second round of the Shenzhen Open where he has joined former world No.1 Andy Murray.

Seventh-seeded de Minaur reached the last 16 in China after beating Yuichi Sugita of Japan 6-3 6-0.

The 19-year-old will next meet American Mackenzie McDonald who was leading 5-7 6-0 5-0 when Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko retired.

Former world No.1 Murray also progressed after surviving a stern test from Chinese wildcard Zhang Zhizhen, who retired in the final set.

The Briton faced 10 break points in the match, saving eight of them. It was his first match since losing in the second round of the US Open last month.

Murray will next face defending champion and top-seeded David Goffin, who received a first-round bye.

Elsewhere in the first round, fifth seed Fernando Verdasco saw off Jason Jung 6-3 6-2 while Denis Shapovalov, the Canadian sixth seed, battled past Ilya Ivashka 7-5 2-6 6-3 in a rain-interrupted match which was suspended for more than three hours.

Czech Jiri Vesely, though, lost 7-5 6-1 to Indian qualifier Ramkumar Ramanathan.

Meanwhile, at the ATP Chingdu Open, Australia’s No.4 Matthew Ebden brushed aside Evgeny Donskoy 6-3 6-4 to join compatriot Bernard Tomic in the second round.

Ebden needed just 75 minutes to beat Donskoy, helped by nine aces.

His victory moves him through to a second-round meeting with either Italy’s Matteo Berrettini or Indian qualifier Prajnesh Gunneswaran.

with AAP