Barry, Otway go down fighting in ASB Classic quarterfinals

Monique Barry and Jade Otway kept fighting to the end and held their spirits up in the 6-0 6-3 loss to No 2 seeds Jiang Xinyi and Wu Fang-Hsien in the quarterfinals of the doubles at the ASB Classic on Wednesday night.

After a memorable win in their first round match over Nao Hibino and Oksana Kalashnikova, they weren’t able to record another upset victory, but kept battling to the end.

The scoreline didn’t reflect the balance of the match, it’s just that Jiang from China and Chinese Taipei’s Wu, won vast majority of the sudden death deuce points. 

“We had great fun, a level that we haven't played at regularly, and it's always an honour to be on Centre Court and play that level,” Otway said.

“It was an honour to do it with Monique and not the result we wanted, but we had fun, and we gave it our all.”

Had those sudden death deuces gone the other way, there could have been a different result in this match and Barry said they kept fighting regardless. 

“We had a lot of opportunities, but they got lucky on some as well,” Barry said. 

“Sometimes you just got to say too good, but we just kept having fun. That's the main thing.”

Otway said there is disappointment at their run at the ASB Classic coming to an end, but in time they’ll be able to take confidence from making it to the quarterfinals of a WTA tournament.

“The first set was a little tough, just like adjusting to the level and the atmosphere,” she said. 

“But we got into it in the second set and definitely had some opportunities, which is disappointing right now, but it's also exciting knowing we had those opportunities and, we can play at that level.”

Otway, who played in the wildcard playoff tournament just before Christmas, says she hopes to play doubles with Barry more once she finishes up at TCU in the States later this year.

“We have a blast together,” she said. 

“We're great friends off the court. So it's been a great week here in Auckland, hanging out with Monique and all the Tennis New Zealand staff. It's been awesome, I have some family in the crowd as well. So it's been great.”