Australian Open: Ashleigh Barty left shattered after third-round loss in Melbourne
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Ashleigh Barty is refusing to let her Australian Open defeat sour an "unbelievable" summer, which she believes will pave the way for future success at the majors.
Australia's last female hope crashed out of the Open on Saturday, losing in straight sets to Japanese prodigy Naomi Osaka.
Unseeded Osaka crunched 12 aces and 24 clean winners to remove the Queenslander with a crushing 6-4, 6-2 third-round defeat on Margaret Court Arena.
Barty conceded it was a missed opportunity not to have built further on her hot recent form.
But while stung by the loss, she was not about to lose sight of her achievements over the past few months.
The 21-year-old charged to a career-high world number 17 ranking in November with a semi-final berth at the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai.
She then received the highest individual honour in Australian tennis when she took out the 2017 Newcombe Medal, before winning through to the final of the Sydney International earlier this month.
"It wasn't a good day at the office for me but we've still had a pretty unbelievable summer," Barty said on Saturday night.
"To be honest, I'm not really concerned about what anyone else is doing.
"But no, I think for me, I feel I'm pretty shattered and it's a missed opportunity only because we've done well to get here and would have loved to have gone further."
Barty won't use court change as an excuse
After thriving on Rod Laver Arena in back-to-back comeback wins in her opening two matches, Barty had again been scheduled to play on centre court against Osaka.
But a backlog of matches on the marquee court meant their clash was shifted to the smaller Margaret Court Arena.
Osaka described the shift in courts — and subsequent reduction in home support — as a positive for her but Barty refused to buy into suggestions it might have influenced the outcome.
"That had nothing to do with it," Barty said.
"I had phenomenal support in Margaret Court Arena as well. It's probably a little bit of a late change for everyone to know but it was still a very full crowd.
"I enjoyed playing out there. I would have loved to have come off as a winner but it wasn't meant to be tonight."
Barty is expected to play in next month's Fed Cup tie against Ukraine in Canberra with tournaments in the Middle East, Indian Wells and Miami likely to follow.
"I think for me it's really about maintaining my spot in the top 20, solidifying my spot, continuing to play good tennis, do the right things on and off the court," she said.
"I would love to make the second week of a slam. We're close. We'll keep chipping away."
AAP
Topics: australian-open, tennis, sport, melbourne-3000
