‘All over the place’: Aussie Ash Barty in rare meltdown

Aussie Ash Barty has left Wimbledon shocked with a strange mental meltdown in her rollercoaster second round victory.

Ash Barty at Wimbledon.

Ash Barty has survived a rare service meltdown to move through to the third round of Wimbledon.

The Aussie suddenly has a golden opportunity to win the tournament as the carnage in the ladies singles draw continued to see top seeds tumble.

Barty is one of the few top 10 seeds to progress through to the Round of 32, despite a performance on Thursday night that was ugly from the start to the finish.

The 25-year-old eventually triumphed 6-4 6-3 over Russian Anna Blinkova, but it was a match full of drama.

Barty was fighting her own service motion as much as her opponent and it started from the very first service game of the match when she served three double faults in an early break of serve.

It didn’t take long for Barty to rediscover her groundstrokes and court craft, but she never looked close to fixing her service meltdown.

Barty served nine double faults for the match and finished with just 53 per cent of her first serves landing in the court. She also had her serve broken three times in the match.

Aussie tennis legend Todd Woodbridge said at the end of the match Barty has “work to do”.

“I’m a bit perplexed of the inconsistency here from Barty,” Woodbridge said in commentary for Channel 9.

Watching Barty struggle to find her rhythm, Woodbridge went on to describe Barty’s serve as “all over the place”.

Barty’s troubles were even more severe earlier in the opening set.

She looked to have a bad case of the jitters early and Aussie tennis great Jelena Dokic said in commentary for Channel 9 she was surprised to see Barty looking so uncomfortable.

Ash Barty wasn’t feeling it early.

“You don’t really see that from Ash,” she said.

“Her timing is not there. She looks rushed.”

Woodbridge said the world No. 1 was “nervous” and described her opening set as “sloppy”.

The match was a rollercoaster after Barty’s poor start saw her trail 0-2 in the first set.

While her serve looked broken at times, there was nothing wrong with Barty’s return.

She broke Blinkova five times in the match and secured the crucial breaks needed late in each set.

It means Barty is through to a third round clash with Katerina Sinkova.

The draw has opened widely for Barty to produce her career-best result at Wimbledon this year, having never made it past the fourth round.

The top players continued to tumble on Thursday night with Elina Svitolina getting knocked out by Magda Linette.

Svitolina’s exit means there are just three players from the WTA Tour’s top 10 rankings still standing in the ladies singles draw.

World No. 2 Naomi Osaka and world No. 3 Simona Halep withdrew earlier, while Svitolina, Sofia Kenin, Bianca Andreescu, Serena Williams and Petra Kvitova have all been eliminated in the first two rounds.

Only Barty, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek are still alive.

Ashleigh Barty of Australia at full stretch.

Barty is on a mission to land the Wimbledon singles title on the 50th anniversary of her mentor and fellow Indigenous Australian Evonne Goolagong Cawley’s first crown.

Barty earlier this week handled the emotion of Carla Suarez Navarro’s return to tennis after cancer treatment to move through to the second round with a 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1 win.

Barty was all class, standing and applauding her opponent as she walked off the court to a thunderous reception.