Australian Open 2022: The stark contrast between Ash Barty and her next opponent
Not even the WTA website knows much about Ash Barty’s next opponent. And the numbers that separate the pair are staggering.
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Ash Barty’s second-round opponent has already doubled her career earnings at the Australian Open.
Italian qualifier Lucia Bronzetti did it on Monday when she won her first grand slam match – it was the first time she’d made a main draw – which guaranteed her a payday of $154,000.
To give an insight into the David v Goliath scenario which confronts her, the WTA website doesn’t even know that much about Bronzetti. All her profile there tells us is that she’s right-handed with no information for height, weight, age and birthplace.
For the record Bronzetti is aged 23 and has a current career high ranking of 142 but in this day and age the true reflection of status is your Instagram account. The Italian has 5,726 followers compared to Barty’s 381,000.
While Barty had some knowledge about her opening round opponent, Lesia Tsurenko, it’s likely she’s never heard of Bronzetti let alone seen her play.
Tsurenko, a former US Open quarter-finalist, had beaten the world No. 1 previously but despite this history it didn’t work out very well for the Ukrainian.
Barty was in demolition mode, only conceding one game for the match in a 6-0 6-1 blitz on Rod Laver Arena while earlier in the day on an outside court Bronzetti produced the biggest win of her career by defeating Russia’s Varvara Gracheva 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
The most glaring statistic to come out of Barty’s ruthless start to the tournament centred around her new improved power serve.
She has now gone four consecutive matches without dropping serve which includes 41 consecutive service holds.
“I’m not one for stats at the best of times,” Barty said. “But I think obviously the last five or six matches I felt like I found a really good rhythm on my service games.
“I’ve been able to get out of some tricky ones and kind of serve my way out of some tricky spots.
“I think being able to manage service games has been really good, but also not trying to overemphasise the fact that if I do get behind in games it’s a bad thing.
“You have to just try and do the best you can in that given point. That’s worked pretty well so far this year.”
Should Barty take down Bronzetti as expected, her likely third-round opponent is Italy’s 30th seed Camila Gorgi before a possible showdown with defending champion Naomi Osaka in the fourth round.
Demolition job: Barty’s brutal early Aus Open statement
The world’s other No. 1, the one who was allowed to grace Rod Laver Arena, made sure the title was represented in style with Ash Barty almost pulling off a rare double bagel.
With the tournament desperate for some good mojo, the hometown favourite provided some welcome relief from the Novak Djokovic scandal which saw the men’s No. 1 booted from the country.
In his absence the women’s No. 1 showed she was ready to take up the slack, blowing away a shell-shocked Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko 6-0 6-1.
“This is beautiful,” Barty said about her return to Melbourne Park’s centre court. “I have said a few times that it has felt like an eternity since I’ve been here.
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“It was good to get out and play a solid match. I felt like I enjoyed it, which was the most important thing.”
The match-up had the potential to be a dangerous encounter given Tsurenko, 32, had previously defeated Barty and then pushed her in the corresponding round two years ago.
But this is a different Barty, now a two-time grand slam champion who has been at the top of the women’s game for three years running and coming off her 14th career title in Adelaide last week.
Tsurenko, a former US Open quarter-finalist, found this out the hard way, not getting on the scoreboard in the opening set which Barty won in just 24 minutes.
The trend continued in the second set with the Ukrainian simply having no answers to the power and precision from the Queenslander who was loving being back on Rod Laver Arena.
She was on the cusp of producing a rare double bagel victory, even having two match points on Tsurenko’s serve to claim the magical 6-0 6-0 scoreline but two unforced errors saved her opponent from the embarrassment.
Last year, Barty started her 2021 Australian Open campaign with a double bagel, defeating Montenegrin star Danka Kovinic 6-0 6-0.
Monday night’s 54-minute demolition was good reading on the stats sheet for the local hero whose improved serve is becoming a major weapon.
She has now strung together 41 consecutive holds of serve and hasn’t been broken in four straight matches.
“I’m not one for stats at the best of times,” Barty said. “But I think obviously the last five or six matches I felt like I found a really good rhythm on my service games.
“I’ve been able to serve my way out of some tricky spots which have been a massive part of my week in Adelaide and again tonight.”
Barty, who plays another qualifier, Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti, in the second round, said she was excited about celebrating the inaugural First Nations Day at Melbourne Park on Wednesday.
Her hero, seven-time grand slam champion Evonne Goolagong Cawley, will lead the way introducing indigenous culture to tennis fans.
“It’s exciting to be able to celebrate my culture, celebrate the indigenous people of this land,” Barty said.
“I think it’s a brilliant way to bring the community together, not just sport. It’s art, education, so many different facets of our family, you know, of our heritage.
“I think it’s going to be a really special day. I’ll be playing but I’ll try and be involved if I can. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on it. It’s going to be fantastic.”
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