Barty back to her winning ways
IT WAS back to the business of winning for world No.1 Ash Barty who showed no hangover from almost 12 months on the sidelines.
In her first competitive match since February 29 last year, the Australian Open favourite was clinical in dismissing Romania’s Ana Bogdan 6-3 6-3.
“I had so much fun out here today,” Barty said. “This is one of my favourite places to play.
“It’s been a while, I miss this feeling of being able to compete. I felt great in Adelaide (exhibition match) and even better tonight.”
While her male counterpart Nick Kyrgios struggled in his return from an extended break, Barty quickly settled into her rhythm on Margaret Court Arena.
Her long-time coach Craig Tyzzer promised a more powerful version of the 2019 French Open champion and there is no doubt the extended pre-season training has seen a noticeable physical transformation.
It was just the lack of match play which was the unknown for last year’s Open semi-finalist but Barty quickly put those concerns to bed.
She cruised through the opening set against the world No.93 Bogdan and then went up another level as the match wore on.
Her serve was the most positive aspect of her return with Bogdan never getting a look at a breakpoint opportunity until the final game of the night.
The Romanian did show some fight late saving two match points on her serve at 2-5 and then had a chance to stay in the match in the following game as Barty got nervous trying to close out the match.
A couple of speed wobbles, including a double-fault, raised eyebrows before an ace delivered the victory on her fourth match point.
Barty will now play 16th seed Czech Marie Bouzkova.