Barty’s keeping it real
ASH Barty is determined to take a low-key approach to Wimbledon despite logging another watershed moment in an inspiring comeback to tennis.
The diminutive Queenslander is increasingly compared with Martina Hingis for her ability to blend guile and underrated power against bigger opponents.
But, even as she rises today to a career-high ranking after reaching the Birmingham Classic final, Barty refuses to be distracted by the prospect of Wimbledon glory.
“We’ll worry about tomorrow first and then Eastbourne, and Wimbledon is still a little bit of time away, so we’ll worry about it then,” she said after beating 2016 French Open winner and world No.14 Garbine Muguruza yesterday.
That 3-6 6-4 6-3 victory whisked Barty into the Birmingham final as she posted the first triumph in her career against a top-20 player.
It also gave Barty a provisional career-high ranking of No.53 — barely a year after she returned to singles with no ranking points to her name.
After wins against former world No.8 Czech Barbora Strycova and ex-No.2 Muguruza in Birmingham, Barty was due to contest her maiden Premier Level tournament against dual Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova last night.
“It was nice to be able to come up against top players leading into a slam (Wimbledon) and try to test myself against the world’s best,” Barty said.
“But I’m feeling confident. We’ve had a lot of grasscourt tennis now coming into Wimbledon, so hopefully we can play well tomorrow and transfer that through Eastbourne, and of course Wimbledon.
“It was important for us to take it step by step, and we’ve been getting better results the more we’ve played and the more we’ve gone on this year.
“To get a first top-20 win is pretty cool leading into Wimbledon.”
Barty has also reached the doubles final with Casey Dellacqua, facing Hao-ching Chan and Shuai Zhang overnight.
Barty, 21, was chasing her second double of the season after winning both singles and doubles in Kuala Lumpur in February.