TENNIS: Australia's final two single contenders at the US Open, John Millman and Ash Barty, have bowed out of the tournaments after the third round with fresh World Rankings.
Australia’s last man standing went down 7-5 6-2 6-4 to tough German Philipp Kohlschreiber, but can look forward to a cheque for at least $US166,500 ($A210,000) for his run to the third round at Flushing Meadows for the first time.
The 28-year-old will also soar some 60 places in the rankings to around 180th in the world as he continues his comeback from groin surgery.
Little wonder Millman had no complaints after falling to the world No.37.
“A really good week,” Millman said.
“I could walk off the court and say I was a little bit sore or whatever but, at the end of the day, physically I felt really good and I got beat by a guy who just played a little bit better than me.
“To be honest, I thought the whole match was pretty high quality. I really tried to back myself when the time was there to do so and I have to continue doing that.
“But I really think my game is at a good level right now and this week has been so good for that.”
Millman’s tournament wrapped up today when the Queenslander and his Englishman doubles partner Ken Supski went down 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 to Australian Davis Cup star Jordan Thompson and Swede Robert Lindstedt in the secound round of the doubles tournament.
Ashleigh Barty is hunting an Australian Open seeding and a coveted spot in the season-ending doubles championships after she 6-2 6-4 in her third-round clash with unseeded American Sloane Stephens.
“Sloane played a really good match and sort of took control and took me out of it a little bit,” Barty said.
“But I had a lot of opportunities and I couldn’t quite consolidate on a few, especially early.
“She definitely deserved to win more than I did. A former top-15 player, she’s obviously riding a very big wave of confidence at the moment so it was always going to be tough.”
Barty’s run to the third round has guaranteed the 21-year-old a fresh career-high ranking.
She is projected to climb to 36th in the world, leaving the former Wimbledon junior champion on track for a top-32 seeding for her home major at Melbourne Park in January.
“That’s the ideal,” Barty said.
“I’ve got two tournaments in Asia that we’ll target and hopefully play well at and Case (Casey Dellacqua) and I are very close to the doubles champs so hopefully we can consolidate that, maybe this week.
“But if not, we’ll keep working, keep striving and it’s just exciting to be able to start where we are with the Australian summer.”
Barty and Dellacqua, who beat Russians Natela Dzalamidze and Veronika Kudermetova in their opener, are sixth in the Race to Singapore, with only the top eight doubles teams qualifying for the WTA Championships in November.
“I’ve had a really good month of tennis in both singles and doubles and have obviously still got a job to do with Case and we’ll switch focus to that now,” Barty said.
AAP
