{"id":361076,"date":"2024-01-19T13:50:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T14:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=361076"},"modified":"2024-01-19T16:02:12","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T16:02:12","slug":"aussie-heroine-storm-hunters-golden-run-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=361076","title":{"rendered":"Aussie heroine Storm Hunter's golden run ends"},"content":{"rendered":"

Storm Hunter flirted with a fourth-round berth at the Australian Open<\/a> but ultimately couldn't convert breakpoint opportunities into victory over Barbora Krejcikova.<\/p>\n

In the most unlikely circumstances, the Rockhampton-born 29-year-old made it to the third round of her home grand slam.<\/p>\n

Hunter became the first Australian woman in 39 years to go through qualifying and reach the third round\ufeff.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 Australian Open live and exclusive on Nine, <\/strong><\/em>9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and ad-free on <\/strong><\/em>Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\ufeff<\/em><\/p>\n

It marked a career-best run for her too, having only gone to the second round in grand slam singles previously.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"Storm<\/p>\n

Despite a strong start from the Australian, her Czech rival showed her experience to weather the storm and come back for a 4-6 7-5, 6-3 victory.<\/p>\n

Hunter came into the match as Australia's last hope in the women's singles draw after Ajla Tomljanovic's exit at the hands of Jelena Ostapenko a day earlier<\/a>. <\/p>\n

There were glimpses of brilliance in the first set, with Nine commentator Alicia Molik describing Hunter's performance as "perfect" after the first set win.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>'A lot left': Great's warning for Demon's fourth round rival<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>'Blessed' world No.1 reflects on journey in milestone match<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Shock as champion record-holder dead at 29<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Despite ceding the lead in the second set, there was still hope from the likes of Molik as well as her off-siders in commentary, Sam Smith and Jelena Dokic.\ufeff<\/p>\n

There were nervous moments in the third set when Hunter appeared to be waning. <\/p>\n

It was then that Molik feared the match's conclusion wasn't far away. <\/p>\n

\"Barbora<\/p>\n

"She's just labouring a little bit even with her walking \u2013 shorter steps," Molik explained.<\/p>\n

"Her gait has changed and it's to a degree natural and normal a reflection how physical this match has been and the build-up of matches."<\/p>\n

\ufeffShortly thereafter, Rod Laver Arena rose to its feet to egg Hunter on and soon she had a spring in her step.<\/p>\n

Something of a comeback began at 0-3 down. Again, she threatened to break \ufeffKrejcikova who ultimately held serve and went on to clinch the deciding set.<\/p>\n

\"Storm<\/p>\n

"Definitely a very, very difficult match," said the former world No.2 player.<\/p>\n

"I think Storm played really, really well. She's doing great. She had a great run.<\/p>\n

"I'm definitely super happy that I was able to get it in the second set and I felt I was playing better in the third."<\/p>\n

It's been a massive run for Hunter who played six singles matches in 10 days as well as one doubles contest.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffKrejcikova will face Mirra Andreeva in the fourth round after the 16-year-old defeated Diane Parry of France in a come-from-behind epic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Storm Hunter flirted with a fourth-round berth at the Australian Open but ultimately couldn't convert breakpoint opportunities into victory over Barbora Krejcikova. In the most […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":361078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361076"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=361076"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":361082,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361076\/revisions\/361082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/361078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=361076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=361076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=361076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}