Ash Barty may be world no. 1 and the hunted this season, but she is also on the hunt
Having No. 1 on her back means Ash Barty is being hunted this season, but she claims she is also hunting as she strives for the Adelaide International crown.
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Ash Barty knows she will be the hunted after entering 2020 at the world No. 1.
Already that has been evident as opponents have seriously challenged the Queenslander in pursuit of the prized scalp in Brisbane and Adelaide.
But after being forced to summon all her fighting qualities to overcome American Danielle Collins in the semi-finals of the Adelaide International at Memorial Drive on Friday night, Barty was adamant she is also on the hunt.
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Australia’s big hope of ending a 42-year Open drought in Melbourne said the ranking was irrelevant in how she prepared and had no impact on her “goals, aspirations and dreams”.
“I’m still working as hard as I can to try and be the best I can,” Barty said. “That is all I can ask of myself regardless of whether I have one, two, three, 10 or 100 next to my name.
“I won’t change the way I approach it.”
Barty struggled to combat the barrage of winners coming from Collins and dropped the first set 3-6. However, she climbed back into the contest, changing up her game to grab the second set, before outlasting Collins 7-5 in the final set tiebreaker.
The victory set up a lash against Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska, the world No. 24 who accounted for Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets in the other semi, in the final on Saturday afternoon.
Barty is hoping for third time lucky after losing in the final in Sydney for the past two years before the tournament was moved to Adelaide.
“Dayana is an exceptional ball striker and wants to be inside the court, she craves that court position and thrives when ahead,” Barty said. “It is about me trying to keep as much scoreboard pressure as I can.
“The last two finals have been close, it was agonising close last year. I lost to a quality opponent (Petra Kvitova).
“I’ll try and do my best and if it ends in a title great, if not it won’t change my mood too much going into the rest of the year and particularly the next few weeks.”
Before warming up for the semi-final, Barty snuck next door to Adelaide Oval to watch Brisbane Heat bat against Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash.
Barty played with the Heat in the 2015 WBBL season, before returning to tennis.
“I poked my head into the cricket and watched the Heat batting which was a little demoralising,” she said.
The Heat were dismissed for only 100 and were thrashed by the Strikers.