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By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, May 14, 2021

 
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World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty built a 6-4, 2-1 lead against Coco Gauff when she retired, sending the 17-year-old American into her first clay-court semifinal. 

Photo credit: Internazionali BNL d'Italia

Ashleigh Barty's Rome retirement has propelled Coco Gauff into her first career clay-court semifinal.

World No. 1 Barty built a 6-4, 2-1 lead in today's Internazionali BNL d'Italia quarterfinal vs. Gauff when she called for the trainer, pointed to her right elbow, wrapped in a white sleeve, and pulled the plug on this entertaining quarterfinal.

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The top-seeded Barty embraced Gauff then packed her bag and walked off well-prepared for Paris bidding adieu to swampy court conditions in Rome today.




Right elbow pain prompted Barty's first retirement since 2018 Strasbourg, though her desire to reduce the risk of injury amid what the top seed called "brutal" conditions probably played a part as well.

"It became worse while we were playing," Barty said. "So I think that's the challenging thing is to make the decision to stop. It's never nice. It's the thing that I hate the most is not being able to finish a tennis match.

"But the pain was becoming too severe, so it was important that I listen to my body and of course try and do the right thing, knowing that we have a Grand Slam in two weeks' time."

It's a big break for the 17-year-old Gauff, who will face either two-time Rome champion Elina Svitolina or reigning Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek for a spot in the final.

Playing just her 13th career clay-court match today, Gauff is now ranked a career-high No. 29 in the live rankings. That ensures Gauff will be seeded for Roland Garros, which begins on May 30th.

Based on the way she's played this week, including her conquest of Madrid champion Aryna Sabalenka yesterday, you have to regard Gauff, who has a knack for scoring massive wins in majors, as a potentially doing damage to the draw in Paris. 

A rainy Rome afternoon created soggy clay conditions created a couple of degrees of difficult for Barty and Gauff in their first career clash.

Ultimately, hitting heavy balls on a muddy dirt court was stressing Barty's elbow to the point where she pulled the plug.

"The conditions are brutal, coming on and off. Obviously it was a little bit heavier today with the rain as well the balls were getting quite heavy, Barty said. "Yeah, I felt like I wasn't able to serve anywhere near 100 percent. It was kind of manufacturing a little bit.

"But at the end, it came to a point where it wasn't management. It was getting worse. I think that's where it's important to understand my body and understand my injury. It's a pre-existing injury, an issue we have had troubles with before. So it's important to know that we know what the recovery looks like and not allow it to get to a stage where it becomes uncontrollable in a sense where we can't recover from it.

"So I think it's important to understand that. I mean, I hate withdrawing. I mean, I hate pulling out of a match halfway through. It's not in my makeup, not what I like to do, but it was really important today that I listen to what my body was telling me to make sure that in a couple weeks' time we're good to go."

The match began amid a slighter rain, which increased as the match progressed eventually prompting chair umpire Kader Nouni to suspend play with the score deadlocked at 2-all.

After about a two-hour rain delay, play eventually resumed. Though Barty managed conditions effectively she never looked completely comfortable continuing play and can you blame her?

Fellow world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas did not resume their quarterfinal played on nearby center court after it was initially suspended, while Barty and Gauff were back out on Grandstand Court fighting through the slog.

Given the 2019 French Open champion was wearing the sleeve around her right elbow and adhesive taping wrapping her left thigh the result of a heavy match workload that's seen her carry a 27-4 record onto court today,  the fact that the men did not resume and with Roland Garros right around the corner starting on May 30th Barty made the correct call to protect her body.

In her first Tour-level match vs. the Aussie, Gauff feathered a drop shot to help her score the first break in the third game before Barty answered with an angled volley to break back and level after four games.

Heavier rain prompted chair umpire Kader Nouni to suspend play with the score even at 2-all.




Following a near two-hour rain delay,  play resumed.

Barty's brilliant racquet skills were on display as she chipped a backhand angled return into the short court for double set point. Gauff showed her closing skills knifing a forehand volley to save the first set point and slamming a serve down the T to save the second set point. 

Fans wrapped in clear plastic raincoats cheer as Gauff erased a third set point with aggressive hitting. A bold second serve down the middle denied a fourth set point, but Gauff's inability to consistently land her first serve in the game cost her.




Facing a fifth set point, Gauff approached with a backhand down the line but Barty read it and ripped a clean forehand pass crosscourt capping the 52-minute first set with a bang.

The top seed won 15 of 19 first-serve points and saved four of five break points in the opening set that saw Barty hit five more winners—15 to 10—in the set.

Barty mixed her slice backhand with her topspin forehand and used the drop shot shrewdly against one of the game's fastest players in extending her lead to 2-1 before retiring.


 

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