Top seed Ash Barty is through to the third round of the Australian Open after overcoming a blip during her match with Daria Gavrilova.
The world No.1 rallied to a 6-1, 7-6(7), victory on the Rod Laver Arena after just over an hour-and-a-half of play. Although it was far from a vintage performance from the Australian who hit 20 winners to 34 unforced errors but still managed to break Gavrilova six times in the match. Barty, who reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open last year, also won 54% of her service points.
The most frustrating aspect of Barty’s latest encounter occurred during the second set where she let a one-sided lead slip. At one stage she had a 6-1, 5-2, stronghold in the match before Gavrilova battled back to draw level. Barty then had to fend off two set points during the tiebreaker en route to what turned out to be a roller-coaster win.
“I think more than anything I probably felt like the set was turning into a bit of a prickly pear really,” Barty said afterwards. “I was doing the right things to get to 5-2 to give myself a chance to serve out the match. I Just lost my way a little bit. But in the end happy to be able to bring it back around in the tiebreak when I needed to and win some big points.”
The latest triumph at Melbourne Park is Barty’s 15th in the Australian Open main draw since 2012. Making it by far her most successful Grand Slam in terms of wins. Whilst she is a former French Open champion the Australian has only ever won nine matches in Paris.
This week is only the second time Barty has played in a tournament over the past 11 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike other players, she opted not to travel to North America or Europe last year over concerns related to the pandemic. She is currently on a seven-match winning streak but she is still trying to find her footing following the break.
“I think it’s natural. I haven’t played a lot of tennis over the last 12 months. Obviously going to have ebbs and flows not only in your concentration but your level of play as well,” she explained.
“It’s important to be able to bring that back as often as possible. For a couple games, I wasn’t able to do that.”
Inevitably the length of time away from the sport will also have an effect on the body of the 24-year-old. Taking to the court on Thursday she was seen wearing strapping around her leg muscle. Although she insists that it is only a precautionary measure.
“It’s not affecting the way that I can play in any way. It’s just more giving the leg some assistance to make sure it doesn’t get to a point where it’s going to affect me,” she stated.
Barty will play Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova in the third round on Saturday.