Teenaged tennis star Ashleigh Barty has been knocked out of the Australian Open wildcard play-off at Melbourne Park.
The 16-year-old Queenslander, who won the event last year, was upset by Serbian-born West Australian Bojana Bobusic.
Bobusic, the fifth seed, weathered a strong start by No.2 seed Barty then fought back to win 3-6 6-3 6-4 in hot conditions in Thursday’s quarter-final.
Bobusic will meet Victoria’s Arina Rodionova – the sister of fellow professional Anastasia Rodionova – in the semi-finals, after Rodionova beat WA’s Jessica Moore 7-5 6-3 earlier on Thursday.
There were still two quarter-finals to be played later in the day, with Monique Adamczak (NSW) to face Viktorija Rajicic (Vic) and Tammi Patterson (Vic) to meet Priscilla Hon (Qld).
The winners of Sunday’s men’s and women’s finals will gain direct entry to January’s grand slam event, although Barty is almost certain to be granted a discretionary wildcard.