BARTY WARMING UP
ASHLEIGH Barty has warned her rivals to bring their A-game if they wish to stop her from breaking the country’s 42-year Australian Open title drought.
Barty delivered her most impressive performance of the summer yesterday, getting into the fourth round with a steely 6-3 6-2 win over big-hitting youngster Elena Rybakina.
The world No.1 then declared she was only just warming up for the business week at Melbourne Park.
“I know if a player is going to beat me, they’re going to have to play a very high-quality match for a long period of time,” Barty said after extending her 2020 winning streak to seven matches.
“It’s not just the first three or four games or first set, it’s across a three-set match.
“That’s the challenge I try to present to my opponents as often as possible.”
Rybakina had won 11 of her first 12 matches this season, lifting the trophy in Hobart after reaching the final in Shenzhen, to present herself as a huge threat to Barty’s title ambitions.
But the Australian rose to the challenge, after dropping her opening service game to love, charging into the last 16 in one hour and 18 minutes.
“I felt I needed to be switched on. A lot of the games were long and tough and I’m happy to get out of them,” Barty said.
“The best match I have played this summer so far. I felt really comfortable moving around the court.
“I felt like I found the middle of the racquet a lot sooner than my other matches.”
Barty had hoped for a fourthround meeting with her doubles partner Julia Gorges but the German went down to Alison Riske yesterday.
The Queenslander will have a shot at redemption against the American, who ended her Wimbledon dream in the Round of 16 last year.
Eighteenth seed Riske was steamrolled 6-1 by Gorges in the first set but rallied to claim a 1-6, 7-6, 6-3 victory.