Tennis: Ashleigh Barty life of party at ripe old age of 22

Ashleigh Barty, of Australia, reacts after her 6-3, 6-3 win over Anett Kontaveit, of Estonia, in their semifinal match of the Miami Open tennis tournament. Photo / AP

Aussie women's ace Ashleigh Barty walked away from tennis about five years ago, saying she was basically burned out at 17. She returned three years ago. And now at 22, she's better than ever.

The 12th-seeded Barty reached her first Miami Open final, enduring three rain delays yesterday to oust 21st-seeded Estonian Anett Kontaveit 6-3, 6-3 in the first women's semifinal.

Barty will play fifth-seed Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) in the decider after Romanian Simona Halep's bid to return to No1 fell apart, losing a rain-delayed clash 7-5, 6-1.

Halep, the No2 seed, would have replaced Naomi Osaka as the top-ranked women's player if she advanced.

"Obviously, I've been doing the right things throughout the week to put myself in a position to play for a title," said Barty, who will rise to a career-best No9 in the world rankings next week.

On the men's side, 20th-seeded Denis Shapovalov reached the semifinals after ousting 28th-seeded Frances Tiafoe 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2 — the third time in four matches at this tournament that he rallied from a set down before prevailing.

It also gives Canada two teens in the men's final four — the 19-year-old Shapovalov will face either Roger Federer or Kevin Anderson in the semifinals, while the other semifinal has 18-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime against defending Miami champion, American John Isner.

And the success for Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov in Miami follows the story of 18-year-old Canadian Bianca Andreescu winning the title at Indian Wells this month.

"Pretty crazy. Everyone is super excited back home," said Auger-Aliassime, who wasn't in the top 100 of the world rankings two months ago and now will climb to No33 next week — if not higher. "It's great to hear all these good comments from them. It puts a lot of belief in tennis in Canada. I think all the Canadian players from the young kids to Denis and Bianca and I, there is a lot of belief right now, so it's great to see."

- AP