MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Ash Barty shed light on the challenge at seedless American Shelby Rogers to reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open for the third year in a row with a 6-3 6-4 victory on Monday.
Number one in the world has tried to avoid talk that she could end Australia’s 43-year wait for a home champion on Saturday but she looked everything as a title contender and she sweeping into the final eight without letting a set down.
With no crowd until Thursday at the earliest due to a five-day coronavirus lockout at Melbourne and no Australian men left in the singles draw, Barty has hopes from organizers as well as fans taking over resting on her shoulders.
“We haven’t done it yet,” said Barty, who lost in the semi-finals of last year’s Grand Slam at home.
“It’s exciting to be in another semi-final of a Grand Slam, especially here in Australia … but we’re certainly not happy with where we are now.
“We will keep chipping away and keep trying to do the right things to get going as far as we can. ”
The 24-year-old looked like she had the tools to keep local interest based on the tennis for another five days as she set up a quarter-final against Czech Karolina Muchova.
Rogers has played the quarter-finals at two Grand Slams and used to annoy high-profile players but could not get enough hold of Barty’s service to get high results. status is a factor.
Australia mixed the direction of its service to extinguish its opponent’s largest weapon – the American received only 61% of what she returned in court – and used the margins punched her and the trademark back arm very effectively.
“I knew it would be vital to have a good service tonight,” said Barty. “That was something I wanted to focus on, just to try and allow myself to be in control of more points.”
One break of service for 3-1 after a rally was long enough for the 2019 French Open champion to win the first set in less than half an hour and grabbed two more to lead 5-1 in the second .
Barty sank for the first time with a win in sight, however, going for big winners too early and allowing Rogers to recapture one of the service breaks.
The top seed grabbed her second chance to top the game with both hands two games later, going on when Rogers added a long-handed volleyball volley.
Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, edited by Peter Rutherford and Pritha Sarkar