BEVERLY HILLS, February 09, (THEWILL) – World Number One female tennis player, Ashleigh Barty, has served notice to the entire female field at the Australian Open this year.
The red-hot Aussie won all her first 16 points en route to crushing Danka Kovinic on Tuesday without losing a single game.
Barty’s class was unmissable as she displayed a master class of tennis excellence, without raising a sweat in the 6-0, 6-0, double bagel first-round romp that was only 44 minutes long.
Gushing in her post-match comments, the Number One said: “It felt great to be here. I tried to stick to my process and routine but I just wanted to have fun.”
The 24-year-old hopes to be the one to break her country’s 43-year singles title curse at the Australian Open and she demonstrated every bit of that desire in her opening match. She never gave her opponent a chance, rolling through a heavily lopsided first set in a 19-minute blitz.
She did not let up one bit, hitting the lines and overwhelming the errant Montenegrin, who had an unflattering 28 unforced errors and won just 10 points in the entire match.
The Australian entered her home slam with the confidence of having won the warm-up Yarra Valley Classic, which was her first tournament in 11 months, having decided against joining the French Open to defend her title and remaining home during the pandemic.
She is displaying no signs of the pressure placed on her by the high expectations to end her country’s jinx. She fell short of that mark last year at the semi-finals when she lost to the eventual champion, Sofia Kenin. That was her best performance at Melbourne Park.
In her bid to improve on that, she next plays Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo or compatriot Daria Gavrilova in the second round. If it is anything like her first match, then Australians can begin to plan for a celebration of one of their own making them proud on their home turf.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
