Australian Open: Ash Barty our last hope in women’s singles

Ash Barty is the only Australian woman still standing in the singles after a grim day for home hopes.

Ash Barty hugs her opponent Jessica Moore after they played each other in the women’s doubles on Thursday. Picture: AAP

If you were playing a drinking game during the Australian Open in which you took a swig every time Ash Barty said “this beautiful sport” or “this beautiful court” or “I have given myself an opportunity” to do something or other, you would be well and truly sozzled by now.

When she claimed during her rise and rise up the WTA rankings that she was a woman of routine, a creature of habit, she wasn’t kidding. Words and phrases have been repeated as often as her pre-match, mid-match and post-match rituals.

Barty won her first-round doubles match at Melbourne Park on Thursday before one of her beaten opponents, her old mate Jessica Moore, whom she had partnered in her comeback to tennis after calling stumps on her cricket career, summed her up thus: “Unreal chick.”

Barty ended the day as the only Australian still alive in the chicks’ singles after Ajla Tomljanovic lost 6-3 3-6 6-3 to Garbine Muguruza, Priscilla Hon went down 6-3 6-2 to Angelique Kerber and a livid Arina Rodionova fell to Kiki Bertens 6-3 7-5.

Barty and Germany’s Julia Georges beat the Australian duo of Moore and Astra Sharma 6-2 6-3 in a 66-minute hit that also served as a decent tune-up for her third-round singles match on Friday against Kazakhstan’s 29th-seeded Elena Rybakina.

In her on-court interview, Barty went out of her way to pay tribute to Moore, who’s retiring after the mixed doubles at the Open.

Barty roused a nice ovation from the crowd for Moore before diving into another brief dialogue about “this beautiful sport” and “this beautiful court”. Skol.

Tomljanovic gave ex-Wimbledon champion Muguruza a heck of a fright before she was edged out on the most beautiful court of the lot, Rod Laver Arena.

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Punishing, side-to-side, 20-shot rallies made them grunt and groan through necessity rather than tactical deviousness before Tomljanovic succumbed in two hours and 21 minutes. Two overrules from umpire Miraja Cicak went against her. She could have challenged the calls but elected not to.

Told the umpire got them both wrong, Tomljanovic said: “What? Are you serious? No way, that was in? The one on the baseline? I just have too much faith in Cicak, I swear. I trust her a lot. I probably shouldn’t have done that. Wow, that just really did not make my day.”

Muguruza climbed Mount Kilimanjaro during the off-season.

“It was a very hard challenge, completely different to what I do,” she said.

“You’re climbing that mountain and it’s only you. You don’t get any award, any prize, any photo, any nothing up there. It’s really challenging you physically and mentally.

“I was just looking for something fun. A different experience outside from tennis.

“I had never done anything similar before. I really like the experience to see myself in the middle of nowhere and just having one clear thought, just to keep climbing.

“You learn a little bit about you, how you handle it there, the mental strength, and physically also, you know, it’s a little bit of a workout.”

She added: “Never been in those conditions before, because I’m not a very — I don’t love a lot of snow and the cold. I did struggle there a lot, climbing and being below zero and at night. It’s really tough ... I don’t know how I’m going to come back. But I didn’t care, really. For me, that’s a very good feeling and a very good adrenaline that I’m a little bit addicted to.”

Apart from Barty’s opportunity to play this beautiful sport on this beautiful court on Friday, the headline match is between defending champion Naomi Osaka and US 15-year-old Coco Gauff.

The 23-time major winner Serena Williams said of Gauff: “She’s just impressive, all around. From her personality to the way she plays, I think it’s just all super-impressive.

“I was nowhere near her level at 15, either on the court or off the court. Not even close.

“I know kids are growing up differently nowadays … but I was nowhere near as, like, smart and eloquent as she is. It’s nice to see. I think she has a good chance to keep winning.

“She’s a fighter.”