Barty’s party continues
Playing with freedom and without fear, Ashleigh Barty has powered into the Australian Open third round without dropping a set.
Barty fired seven aces and dropped serve only once in an impressive 6-2 6-3 win over China’s Yafan Wang yesterday before claiming she felt no pressure as Australia’s biggest title hope in years.
‘‘It’s great to be playing in Australia and playing well,’’ the tournament’s 15th seed said after notching her sixth win in nine days.
A finalist at last week’s Sydney International, the 22-year-old has surged into fourth favouritism to become the first home winner of the Open since Chris O’Neill in 1978.
Barty, though, insisted hype was easy to block out.
‘‘I don’t read the papers start off with,’’ she said.
‘‘I can come out here and play with freedom.
‘‘When I’m playing well, I’m really enjoying myself out on court and that is all I can ask of every match.
‘‘If I win, it’s a bonus. If I lose, the sun still comes up the next day and it’s all good.’’
Barty will play either West Australian qualifier Astra Sharma or Greek Maria Sakkari tomorrow for a place in the second week of the Open for the first time. the to
Meanwhile, Sloane Stephens advanced at the expense of her former doubles partner Timea Babos in a second-round match the women’s tour billed as a battle of the so-called ‘‘frenemies’’.
Fifth-seeded Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion, dominated the Rod Laver Arena opener 6-3 6-1 yesterday but Babos kept her working by saving 18 of the 23 break points she faced.
Stephens said she knew what to expect from Babos but that didn’t make it any smoother.
‘‘I just had to hang in there and be patient,’’ she said.
Stephens will next play No 31 seed Petra Martic, who beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-4 7-5.
This is the first time since 2014 that Stephens has put back-toback wins together at Melbourne Park. She reached the fourth round in 2014, a year after making a run to the semifinals.
‘‘It’s tough getting back into the swing of things,’’ Stephens said of her preparation for the season-opening major, which this month included first and secondround losses in Brisbane and Sydney. ‘‘It’s a little bit toasty, but a beautiful place to play.’’
In other early women’s matches yesterday, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova eliminated ninth-seeded Kiki Bertens 3-6 6-3
6-3, Aliaksandra Sasnovich beat
20th-seeded Anett Kontaveit 6-3
6-3 and Caroline Garcia advanced
6-3 6-3 over Zoe Hives.
AAP/AP