Ash Barty struggles but wins Wimbledon second round match in straight sets
Error-riddled Ashleigh Barty scrapes through to Wimbledon’s third round as a sixth top 10-seeded woman falls by the wayside.
Ashleigh Barty’s odds of winning Wimbledon have increased, with only three of the women’s top ten still in the Championship – but the Queenslander will have to pick up her game after scrapping through to the third round with an error-riddled win on centre court overnight (AEST).
Barty’s title aspirations were helped when number three seed Elina Svitolina became the sixth top 10-seeded woman to be eliminated in the first two rounds at Wimbledon.
With Serena Williams and Simona Halep injured, Naomi Osaka withdrawn for personal reasons, and Bianca Andreescu and Sofia Kenin suffering early round losses, Barty is now in the box seat. Alongside Barty, the only surviving top 10 players are Arnya Sabalenka, of Belarus, and Polish 20-year-old Iga Swiatek.
A hard-fought win for the world No.1...@ashbarty overcomes Anna Blinkova 6-4, 6-3 on Centre Court#Wimbledonpic.twitter.com/J8HaygDatc
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 1, 2021
“I’m exactly where I am, and that’s all I can ask,” Barty said.
“I feel good. Like, I feel like it’s certainly nice now to have another opportunity here in the third round here at Wimbledon.”
When asked if this was a golden opportunity, Barty replied: “That’s an impossible question to answer … that’s not something that I can control. I think speculating now is a waste of time. It’s certainly not something that I’m going to do, is be looking at the draw. I never have, I never will. It’s a waste of time thinking about it.’’
But Barty, 25, will be revisiting her sluggish start and repeated serving difficulties – including a memorable five faults in a row – in her 6-4, 6-3 centre court win over unseeded Russian Anna Blinkova.
There is nothing worse than the collective sigh of a big crowd, that delicate murmuring of “oh dear, that wasn’t too good”.
And there were plenty of those lacklustre moments, especially in the first set in which Barty’s attempts at backhand slices went straight into the net or when she hit her trusty forehand too deep.
Barty’s constant service faults gifted Blinkova many opportunities – and also sapped the energy from the crowd. There was concern that Barty’s troubles may be linked to an earlier injury, but she rejected that suggestion, saying her hip “was fine” and “it was just not a great serving day”.
“So certainly, it is not something I’m going to blow out of proportion.”
The Queenslander will take some comfort from the speed of her serve – sometimes in excess of 160kmh – and her ability to stay focused and not dissolve in frustration.
Barty was lucky in drawing 89th-ranked Blinkova, a chess master who is fluent in six languages. The Russian strategically hit the ball straight back to the Australian and let the world number one make the errors.
The statistics show just how mistake-riddled the match was. In the first set, Barty had seven double faults and only got her first serve in less than half the time. In the first set she recorded 27 unforced errors, in the second it was 15 unforced errors.
Barty will now play Katerina Siniakova, the big serving Czech, who was most recently a finalist at Bad Homburg. If successful in that match, Barty will take on the winner of the match between Barbara Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Anastasija Sevastiova of Latvia.
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