Local wildcard Monique Barry has gone down fighting at the ASB Classic, eliminated 7-6(6) 6-2 by Russian world 74 Elina Avanesyan in the first round. 

It was always going to be a tough ask – with a gap of more than 500 ranking places between the two players – but Barry was far from overawed. 

The Taranaki product, who now lives in Australia, produced the best performance of her life – on the biggest stage – even if it wasn’t quite enough. 

The world No 649 brought an aggressive style, breaking Avanesyan three times in the first set, but also had her own struggles on serve. 

The first-set tiebreak was pivotal and the Russian was able to canter away after that. 

It was a classic underdog scenario. Barry has never played a match at this level – nor a top-100 player in her career – and was an $8.00 outsider with the bookmakers. She has mostly been restricted to events on the lower tiers of the ITF tour. In contrast, Avanesyan is an established tour professional, who reached the fourth round of the 2023 French Open, beating world No 12 Belinda Bencic on the way. 

But Barry belied any nerves, breaking Avanesyan in the first game of the match, then skipping out to a 2-0 lead with an assured hold. 

In difficult breezy conditions, Barry was prepared to go for her shots. It was an admirable strategy – and often worked, as she found the paint from the back of the baseline. 

Consistency was always going to be a struggle though, as she tried to adjust to the pace and heavier ball coming back. The players traded breaks, but Barry provided plenty of highlights, with an amazing retrieval in the seventh game. 

She also showed real mettle serving at 5-6 down, with the point of the match at 40-40. Barry was almost in the corporate boxes as she retrieved a deep moonball, then came up with a perfect backhand passing shot on the run. 

Barry was always trailing in the tiebreak, with the experience of her opponent showing through. She retrieved a 4-1 deficit to get back to 4-4, then saved two set points, sinking to her knees in relief with the second as it clipped the net cord. 

But Avanesyan took her third opportunity, as Barry dumped a running forehand into the net.