World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty of Australia kicked off her 2022 season with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory over American Coco Gauff at the Adelaide International on Wednesday.
The top-seeded Barty, 25, had not played the since the U.S. Open in early September.
The two-time Grand Slam winner lost in the second round here in 2021 to American Danielle Collins. Adelaide is a warm-up for the Australian Open, which begins on Jan. 17.
The 17-year-old Gauff defeated an injured Barty in their only previous meeting in Rome last year.
“This old body might be a little sore tomorrow I think,” Barty said after the match Wednesday. “It’s great to come out here and I think I played a pretty good quality match considering it was the first match in a few months. Coco played great, she forced me to hit a lot of balls tonight and I feel like I got better and better as the match went on.”
Barty said that the crowd in her native Australia pumped her up during a tough second set.
“I’m not the type of person that gives you a lot but I promise, I love it, I promise I do,” she said of the fans. “It’s felt like an eternity since I’ve been back playing at home and it’s so nice to hear so many kids out here and hear so many Australian accents. You genuinely miss it when you’re away and we had a big stint away from home and there is genuinely no place I’d rather be than here in Adelaide.”
Barty lost her serve twice in the first set and trailed 4-2 in the second set before winning 11 of the last 13 games. She saved 12 of 15 break points in a match that lasted two hours and 14 minutes.
–Field Level Media