Ash Barty shows French Open champion who’s boss, extends incredible hot streak

Ash Barty has extended her incredible winning streak by overpowering a teenage tyro to prove she’s the real queen on clay these days.

Ash Barty keeps powering on.

Ash Barty has continued her incredible winning streak on clay by beating Iga Swiatek in the third round of the Madrid Open this morning.

The Aussie star is now unbeaten across 14 matches on clay, stretching back to her 2019 triumph at the French Open, and is 9-0 against top 20 opponents this year. She has more wins than any woman on tour this season, moving to 23-3.

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In a battle of the past two Roland Garros champions — teenager Swiatek won the title last year — Barty slumped to 0-3 in the first set but fought back to secure an engrossing 7-5 6-4 victory in the Spanish capital.

The Queenslander saved six of seven break points in the match as she showed off her fighting qualities to advance to the quarter-finals, where she will face Petra Kvitova — who booked her spot in the last eight by beating Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova in three sets on Tuesday.

“I said, ‘Mate, that was fun. It will be the first of many’,” Barty said post-match. “Really enjoyed myself out there tonight. I enjoyed the challenge.

“Iga’s game is exceptional. It’s really, really impressive. I love testing myself and trying to figure out the puzzle and challenges she created for me.”

Barty’s win against 19-year-old Swiatek comes after she survived a scare in the second round, needing three sets to overpower world No. 80 Tamara Zidansek.

She lost her temper briefly in that match when a ball off her racquet was originally called in, only to be overruled on a challenge by her opponent.

“You know the system is as much bulls*** as I do, don’t you,” she told the umpire.

Barty is on a roll.

Last week Barty won the Stuttgart Open in Germany, beating Aryna Sabalenka 3-6 6-0 6-3 in the decider to claim her 11th career title.

Not only did she secure a trophy and 500 world ranking points, Barty also landed a Porsche Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo — and that might have been what hurt Sabalenka the most.

Asked if she was a speed fiend and was excited to test the Porsche’s limits, Barty said: “No, driving Miss Daisy over here.”

“This week’s been phenomenal for me,” Barty added in her post-match press conference. “We’ve played a lot of tennis, a lot of matches. And I’ve certainly felt like I’m taking my tennis to kind of a new level, in a sense of being able to be calm and play with freedom and play without consequence in a way, just going out there and try to bring my best every single point.”