Ashleigh Barty aiming to win gold medal with John Peers in mixed doubles

Australian tennis star Ashleigh Barty is excited to be in a position to contend for a medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

Barty, ranked at No. 1 in the world, suffered a shock loss in the singles first round at the Tokyo Olympics but she is enjoying a good campaign with fellow compatriot John Peers in the mixed doubles event. 

On Friday, Barty and Peers will be battling Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrey Rublev for a place in the mixed doubles final. 

Even if they lose, they will have a chance to fight a bronze medal.

"It’s exciting and it’s why we came here,” Barty said, per Tennis Australia. 

“The whole tennis team, the whole Team Australia, that’s why we came here, to try and win medals for our country. To now be in that position is a lot of fun. I’m super proud of our week so far, but we’re certainly not done yet.”

Peers enjoys playing alongside Barty 

“Ash and I just came out here to have a lot of fun, and see how the results can be,” Peers said.

“Let’s see if we can produce another good match. At the end of the day, we have been playing a good level … There’s no reason we can’t have another good day.”

In the quarterfinal, Barty and Peers overcame Greece's Maria Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 4-6 10-6. 

Sakkari and Tsitsipas made a good start to the match, having broken Barty and Peers in the third game. 

However, Barty and Peers refused to quit as they broke Sakkari and Tsitsipas in games four and 10 to overturn the deficit and win the opener. 

After losing the first set, Sakkari and Tsitsipas made a good start to the second set as they broke Barty and Peers in the opening game of the second set. 

Sakkari and Tsitsipas then held on to their serve the rest of the way to force a decider. 

In the match tie-break, Barty and Peers realized their third match point to earn a three-set win. 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3j0KYJ0