Ashleigh Barty beaten at Wimbledon 2019 by Alison Riske

Last updated on 8 July 2019.From the section Tennis155

Australia's world number one Ashleigh Barty has been knocked out of Wimbledon, losing her fourth-round match against American Alison Riske.

World number 55 Riske fought back from a set down to win 3-6 6-2 6-3 in one hour 36 minutes on court two to reach a first Grand Slam quarter-final.

French Open champion Barty, 23, had not dropped a set at the tournament.

Riske will face seven-time champion Serena Williams after she beat Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.

"I couldn't begin to say what it means to me. To have overcome the matches the way I have is what I'm most excited about," said Riske, 29.

"Getting to the quarter-finals is amazing but what's most exciting for me is the way I've been fighting.

"The grass definitely brings out the best in me. Hopefully it will rub off and happen in other places too. I think my game is just well suited to it."

"I love being at Wimbledon. Today I told my fiance, 'I don't want Wimbledon to end'."

Barty is at least guaranteed to hold onto top spot in the rankings after Karolina Pliskova also lost in the fourth round.

The Australian set the early tone as she took the opening game with four successive aces, before a delightful sliced backhand set up break points as the Australian raced into a 4-1 lead.

Unshaken, Riske - who won the pair's only previous meeting in 2016 - brought the set back on serve, only for the world number one to take the final two games and pocket the opener in 32 minutes.

The American rallied in the second set, breaking Barty's faltering serve twice more as the momentum was swiftly stolen away from the Australian.

And, despite losing just 12 games in her opening three matches, Barty was unable to prevent a resurgent Riske continuing her best Wimbledon run as the American made a crucial break at 4-3 in the deciding set.

All four of Riske's matches have gone the distance, with other notable victories coming against 13th seed Belinda Bencic and 22nd seed Donna Vekic during her impressive run.

Barty said: "I think I started well. I was sticking to how I wanted to play. Then in the second set, I think my serve let me down. I let Alison get back into the match too many times, having looks at second serves.

"Overall I didn't play a poor match. When I needed to, when the big moments were there, Alison played better today. It's a tough one to swallow but I lost to a better player."

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155 comments

I think Barty threw the game because her ears were bleeding.
I thought Azerenka had the most ridiculous, fake scream I'd ever heard, but Riske runs her a close second.
If they were to play each other in the final, I'd just switch off.
The only sports men/women who have any excuse to make that noise are weightlifter. Swinging a racket? pfft.
Time the ATP etc did something about this.
If you watch Azarenka, the noise goes on until her opponent hits the ball, unless she hits the net, at which point it stops immediately.
… nothing to do with effort.
Watching Nadal vs Sousa right now. The grunting is just horrendous, sometimes even delayed until when the opponent is hitting the ball. Silent before then. All about gamesmanship, nothing to do with effort/efficiency.

Time it is stopped. Makes me want to switch to Home and Away or Neighbours.
and the coco bubble bursts. well done halep for saving us from the sensationalistic bbc headlines. the young girl has potential but too many people got carried away. and well done riske, what a win!
No surprise that Gauff lost. This was a significant step up in class versus Halep. Halep is in the top tier and Hercog probably in the bottom of the third tier / top of the fourth tier.

There are significant gaps between rankings in both men and women's tennis. See how easily Nadal beat Sousa today for example - Sousa is a Top 60 player and couldn't lay a glove on Nadal.
I would like to see womens tennis over 5 sets just like the men, all in the name of equality of course huh BBC?

Then we might see some different results.
No more women's football and no more Gauff......what are the BBC going to talk about now?
@5 Not much the ATP can do - that's the men's tour. You mean the WTA?
Not a massive surprise - Riske has won two grass court tournaments leading up to this so is clearly in the form of her life, whilst Barty was still playing on the clay at the french.

Grass is a surface which requires a lot of time to get used to, if only the season was longer.
Well this was certainly not expected ted given the form that Barty has been in. Riske played some brilliant tennis in the second set to get back on terms and Barty looked beaten when Riske broke her in the third. Riske looks very comfortable on grass. Gauff was dismantled by Halep which is in many ways a good thing as it stops all the BBC hype. She is kid and needs time to develop into an adult.
Rooting for Halep. Gauff will be star but she's possibly got 20+ years to win slams. You know who the BBC were rooting for when the commenter shouts 'Oh no!' when Halep hit a winner to break in the 1st game! No bias there...
Shocked at Barty going out but not surprised at the Coco wunderkind's exit at the hands of Halep.
The kid did well but was overhyped IMHO. Some great shots from her and she gave it her best - but still needs to mature a bit. Not many players have progressed deep in slams until they've served their apprenticeship!
Shame for Barty, I do like her but her opponent is a good grass player.
Just a pity the no.1 seed and no.1 ranked player and GS winner didn't get a game on Centre or Number One, the planners obviously thinking a 15 year old unranked player was more deserving.
Shows the bias level you're dealing with at the BBC when all of Gauff's wins have had a HYS + been headline news instantly, now she loses and there's no HYS at all.
Yeah but why did the put the wld No 1 on court 2, don't make sense on ere.
@22 You don't reach No.1 by fluke, you do it by achieving consistent results over a sustained period. True, she's not the greatest player to ever get there but she's won a Slam and plenty have made it there without doing that
A question. .... does anyone remember the second Monday of Wimbledon ever being referred to as 'manic monday' before?

I don't & it seems like every commentator & host in articles, radio & TV is under strict instructions to refer to ye olde manic Monday at every opportunity. Bleeuurrggh. Nauseating - what next - torrid Tuesday? Whacky Wednesday?
@36 - Do you follow tennis outside of the Wimbledon fortnight? Near enough every tournaments gives wildcards, to home nation players, past champions, or players that have served the tournament faithfully. Sometimes to players that will be valuable commercially. Wimbledon is no different to any other slam in this regard.
All tournaments 'seed' players to keep the top seeds apart until the final.
@5
Quite agree. There’s plenty they could do to make the game more watchable. Ignore lets on the serve,stop the players choosing between 3/4 balls before serving. Limit bounce of ball to 3, stop so called “comfort breaks”,strictly enforce time limits. I used to love watching tennis now it’s a bit of a drudge. Got Nadal on TV at the moment and can make a cup of tea between serves.
@36 so no home interest and a chance of Nadal v Djokovic in round 1 is the way to go?

Yes, it is the way for Wimbledon and any other tournament to go bankrupt.