Barty digs deep after little sleep
NO matches for 11 months and then two inside 24 hours was clearly a shock to the system for world No. 1 Ash Barty.
After breezing through her comeback match on Tuesday night, the Australian Open favourite was back on Margaret Court Arena early on Wednesday afternoon against world No. 52 Marie Bouzkova.
And initially it was much of the same, with Barty racing through the first set without losing a game.
However, midway through the second set the match changed complexion and it took the 2019 French Open champion all of her patience and skill to overwhelm a determined Bouzkova 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 in just over two hours.
Barty, 24, admitted she was still getting her head and body back into tournament mode.
“It was a bit strange coming off a night match,” she said. “I’m typically an early riser so I think getting to bed late was unusual and still up just after 6am this morning and not having a lot of sleep.
“So the day matches — obviously that’s when I train throughout pre-season — that’s a bit more normal now.”
Barty, who took an extended break last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, felt she “pressed a bit” in the second set and lost her execution which sent the match into an intriguing third set.
The pair traded breaks of serve and Barty looked in trouble at 3-3 and with a breakpoint on her serve but dug deep to save it and then accelerated to the finish line.
A booming ace set up a match point, with another big serve closing it, ensuring Barty progressed to the quarter-finals of the Yarra Valley Classic where her opponent will be American Shelby Rogers.
“It’s always nice to test the legs and get into those tougher matches obviously,” Barty said.
“There were ebbs and flows of momentum but happy to come away with it in the third and change things a little bit to come back my way.
“I think that was the challenge today to make sure that I didn’t just bundle up like a bag of spuds and lose what was happening.
“I just needed to stick fat and continue doing the right things for us.”
Barty also played doubles on Wednesday with her partner American Jennifer Brady defeating Christina McHale and Ons Jabeur 6-2, 6-3.
In the opening match on Margaret Court Arena, one of Barty’s main Australian Open rivals, No.3 seed Naomi Osaka, was also made to work harder than expected.
Great Britain’s Katie Boulter showed plenty early by taking the first set before the three-time grand slam champion kicked into gear, winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.