Early setback but Barty takes match
AS the sun went down, Ashleigh Barty only turned up the heat.
For the second time in three days, she had to do it the hard way but the Queenslander is through to the third round of the Australian Open for the second successive year after overcoming Camila Giorgi 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 on Rod Laver Arena last night.
After copping an errant Viktor Troicki ball to the head in Nick Kyrgios’ match on Hisense Arena on Wednesday, umpire James Keothavong was back in the chair for a prime-time game involving an Aussie.
But it was Barty who spared the host nation an even bigger headache by ensuring Australia has one female singles representative in the last 32 after Daria Gavrilova and Olivia Rogowska crashed out on Wednesday.
Ranked No.71 compared to Barty’s No.17, Giorgi wasn’t tipped to cause the Australian any dramas on the big stage.
But her ranking belies the big-hitting Italian’s talent and it showed during a first set in which she forced Barty into retreat.
But, as she did against the shrieking Aryna Sabalenka on Tuesday, 21-year-old Barty found a way home, getting over some second-set yips on serve to run out a commanding victor in the third.
“It could have been a pretty sticky match, it was very tough, but it was nice to get through,” Barty said.
A potential clash awaits with world No.1 Simona Halep, who beat Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard 6-2, 6-2 last night.