World number one says she wants to travel directly to Melbourne for Australian Open
\n SYDNEY
\nWorld number one Ashleigh Barty on Monday pulled out of this week\u2019s Sydney Classic to rest ahead of the Australian Open after clinching the singles and doubles titles at the Adelaide International.
\nThe 25-year-old said she would instead travel directly to Melbourne for the opening Grand Slam of the year, starting in one week\u2019s time.
\n\u201cUnfortunately, I am withdrawing from the Sydney Tennis Classic to have some time to recover before the Australian Open,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry I won\u2019t get the chance to play in front of the Sydney fans this year.\u201d
\nBarty demolished Kazakhstan\u2019s Elena Rybakina 6-3, 6-2 to claim the 14th singles title of her career on Sunday then returned to win the doubles with Storm Sanders.
\nIt was her first tournament in four months, since a shock third-round loss at the US Open in September, after which she opted to remain in Australia because of the pandemic.
\nBut the reigning Wimbledon champion bounced back emphatically to show why she is favourite to win her maiden Australian Open crown.
\nBarty beat a host of top players in a stacked top half of the Adelaide draw, including Coco Gauff (world number 19), Sofia Kenin (12) and IgaSwiatek (8) on her way to the decider.
\nHer first-round bye in Sydney has been handed to third seed and world number four BarboraKrejcikova, with world number three Garbine Muguruza now the top seed.
\nFormer French Open champion Swiatek, who fell to Barty in the Adelaide semis, also withdrew from Sydney.
\n\u201cAfter a tense pre-season and last week\u2019s tournament in Adelaide I feel like my body needs more time to recover before @australianopen,\u201d the Pole said on Twitter.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve been feeling some pain in my lower rib area, which is why unfortunately I\u2019ve decided to withdraw from the tournament in Sydney. See you in Melbourne!\u201d
\nSwiatek was due to open her Sydney campaign against US Open champion Emma Raducanu, who missed the Melbourne Summer Set tournament last week as she continued to recover from coronavirus.
\nThe Briton will instead play Rybakina.
\nIn early Sydney action, Spain\u2019s world number nine Paula Badosa swept past Latvia\u2019s JelenaOstapenko 7-6 (7\/1), 6-1, and fifth-ranked Estonian Anett Kontaveit beat China\u2019s Zhang Shuai 6-3, 6-3.
\nAmong the men, Belgium\u2019s David Goffin won his first-round match 6-4, 6-4 against Argentina\u2019s Facundo Bagnis.
\nThree-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray, Russia\u2019s world number 20 Aslan Karatsev, and Britain\u2019s Dan Evans are also in the draw.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
World number one says she wants to travel directly to Melbourne for Australian Open SYDNEY World number one Ashleigh Barty on Monday pulled out of this week\u2019s Sydney Classic to rest ahead of the Australian Open after clinching the singles and doubles titles at the Adelaide International. The 25-year-old said she would instead travel directly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238128,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[2854,2855,2853],"class_list":{"0":"post-238111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-barty","9":"tag-swiatek","10":"tag-sydney-classic"},"yoast_head":"\n