Australian Open: Ash Barty moves closer to career-best Melbourne appearance

James Pavey

•
Australian Open: Ash Barty moves closer to career-best Melbourne appearance image

Ash Barty has steamrolled her way into the third round of the Australian Open after a dominant win over Wafan Yang.

China's world No.65 didn't stand a chance in the face of Barty, who fired to a one set-to-love lead in just 28 minutes.

Barty's first set was as good as it gets - 11 from 11 on her first serve, seven from seven on net points, and a whopping 15 winners.

It was much of the same in the second set, Barty wrapping up the match 6-2 6-3 in 65 minutes.

AUSTRALIAN OPEN: Day 2 results: How the Aussie players went | 'Struggling' Azarenka breaks down following round one exit

The scoreline reflected Barty's dominance, with the 22-year-old Australian hitting 29 winners to Yang's nine, and winning 62 points to Yang's 40 in the match.

Barty only got 61 per cent of her first serves in versus Yang's 70 per cent, but won 82 per cent of the time, Yang way behind at 44 per cent.


The Aussie has only dropped nine games and hasn’t looked like losing a set, backing up her first-round demolition of Thailand's Luksika Kumkhum 6-2 6-2 with the Yang procession.

 

After the match, Barty was pleased with where her game was heading as she prepares for a third round match against Greece's Maria Sakkari who defeated Aussie qualifier Astra Sharma 6-1 6-4.

However, she refused to feed into the hype as she readies to reach the fourth round in Melbourne for the very first time.

"I feel great. Obviously we've had an amazing start to the year, it's flowed on from late last year where we had a really good finish," she said during her on-court interview.

"I can come out here and play with freedom, and play my game. When I'm playing well, I enjoy myself out on court.

"If I win, it's a bonus. If I lose, the sun still comes up the next day and it's all good."


 

James Pavey

James Pavey Photo