Barty admits her game is a work in progress
FOR world No.1 Ash Barty, it was a dog’s breakfast: scrappy but ultimately fulfilling.
Barty admitted she never rose to great heights in yesterday’s comeback win against Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the Adelaide International WTA event.
But the Australian found beauty in winning ugly in her 4-6 6-3 7-5 victory at Memorial Drive in her first appearance.
“Those tough wins, those wins when you’re not necessarily playing your best tennis, I think they always make you feel pretty good deep down, knowing that you can scrap out of it and get out of it,” she said.
The top seed, gifted a firstround bye, initially struggled in the second-round fixture against the world No.31 Pavlyuchenkova.
Barty initially battled for timing and fluency – similar to last week when a first-round loser to American world No.53 Jennifer Brady in her first outing of the summer at the Brisbane International.
After dropping the first set in Adelaide, Barty discovered increasing touch ahead of the Australian Open from next Monday in Melbourne.
“It was just a work in progress,” she said.
“It was just me finding the middle of the racquet, finding my groove … obviously it’s natural to find your rhythm and find your groove the more matches you play.”
Barty will next play either Australian qualifier Arina Rodionova or Czech eighth seed Marketa Vondrousova in the quarter-finals tomorrow.
Priscilla Hon’s hopes of moving through ended when the Australian was upstaged 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 by German Julia Goerges in their first-round encounter.