Monique Barry goes down fighting at ASB Classic qualifying

Monique Barry put up another gutsy performance in her 7-5 7-6(4) loss to Lina Glushko in the second round of qualifying for the ASB Classic on Sunday.

Following on from her outstanding 7-6 6-4 win over Ena Shibahara in the first round of qualifying on Saturday, the Kiwi No 2 again showed she’s able to live with players well beyond her world ranking of 506.

Glushko, from Israel, has a ranking of 221, but she was forced to dig deep numerous times against Barry, who never gave up fighting and would have made it through to the main draw if a few key points went her way. 

Barry got a break of serve in the seventh game of the first set and then held to go up 5-3. She had a set point in the following game, but missed with a return down the line. 

Glushko, not only held serve, but took her play to another level as she reeled off four games in a row to take the opening set.

But Barry kept battling and didn’t drop her head as she got a break early in the second set, however once more Glushko responded and got the set back to 2-2.

The set went into a tiebreak, with Glushko winning the first three points. She went onto lead 5-2, before losing the next two points on her serve.

However, Glushko won the next two points to book her place in the main draw. 

While Barry might be disappointed at losing a match she came close to winning, there are plenty of positives she can take from the last two matches as she launches into her 2025 season.

Before that though she has the doubles at the ASB Classic to focus on. She has partnered up with fellow Kiwi Jade Otway and they’ve been drawn against Nao Hibino and Oksana Kalashnikova in the first round.

The other doubles wildcard has been given to Valentina Ivanov and Vivian Yang, who play An Li and Katie Volynets in the first round.