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Williams loses to No. 27 seed

By John Pye

The Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia — Serena Williams lost to Chinaás Wang Qiang in the third round of the Australian Open.

The seven-time Australian Open champion was down a set and a break and Wang was serving for victory in the second set before Williams broke back and leveled the match after dominating the tiebreaker.

Williams was serving to stay in the match when Wang broke her to clinch a 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5 victory. In their only previous meeting, Williams beat Wang, the No. 27 seed, 6-1, 6-0 in 44 minutes at last yearás U.S. Open quarterfinals.

Williamsás bid for a her 24th Grand Slam title to equal Margaret Courtás all-time record will have to wait. She has lost the Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals in 2018 and à19 and hasnát added to her collection of majors since her title at Melbourne Park in 2017.

In other action Ash Barty is starting to feel right at home at Melbourne Park.

The top-ranked Aussie was the first player to secure a spot in the fourth round of the Open, and thinks she’s starting to regain the momentum that helped get her to the top of the rankings and a first major title in 2019.

Barty fended off eight break-point chances before beating 29th-seeded Elena Rybakina 6-3, 6-2 in the opening match of the day during play at the Rod Laver Arena.

The 20-year-old Rybakina had won 11 of her first 12 matches of the season, winning the title in the tuneup tournament in Hobart after reaching the final in Shenzhen.

Barty, the French Open champion, won her first title on home soil in Adelaide last week and, after dropping the first set she played at Melbourne Park, has advanced through three rounds without losing another set. She had a tough start against Rybakina, having her serve broken in the opening game, but otherwise felt good about her latest win.

“I felt I needed to be switched on. A lot of the games were long and tough and happy to get out of them,” she said. “Today was probably my sharpest match that I played (this summer). I felt really comfortable moving around the court. I felt like I found the middle of the racket a lot sooner than my other matches.”

Barty reached the quarterfinals last year, which gave her the confidence she carried through the full season and included titles at Roland Garros and the WTA Finals. An Australian title is a big step, though. It’s been more than four decades since an Australian lifted the trophy.

She’ll next meet either No. 18 Alison Riske, or her doubles partner Julia Goerges on Sunday for a spot in the quarterfinals.

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