Australian Open tennis: Ash Barty of Australia defeats Ekaterina Alexandrova

Ash Barty has reached the second week of the Australian Open for the third successive year, too strong for Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Ash Barty lunges forward during her ing forehand. Pic: Michael Klein

Ash Barty reached the second week of the Australian Open for the third year in succession when too strong for Ekaterina Alexandrova in the women’s singles in Melbourne on Saturday night.

The Australian champion allayed concerns surrounding a sore muscle and shrugged off the silence in Margaret Court Arena to progress 6-2 6-4 in 1hr 20min.

She has now made at least the last 16 of a tennis grand slam on her last seven attempts, while her win over the Russian stretches her winning streak since returning to the tour this year to seven.

Five of those wins have come on Margaret Court Arena, with the world No 1 clearly revelling in playing on the stadium court at Melbourne Park.

The 2019 Roland Garros champion returned to the circuit after nearly a year off when claiming the Yarra Valley Classic on the court last week.

After two wins on Rod Laver Arena, she returned to Margaret Court Arena and after a slow start in round 3 on Saturday she was able to dominate from then on.

While clearly the Australian receives the home-town support in Melbourne, she said playing without crowds did not prove a hindrance.

“It is very strange. It changes the sound of the court a little bit. It might be a little bit rude of me … but I like the sound the court makes. It feels a little bit practice,” she said.

“It is something I have never experienced before ever in my life. I didn’t want it to affect how I played tonight. I didn’t want it to affect my business.”

Barty will play Shelby Rogers for a spot in the quarterfinals on Monday after the American proved too strong for Anett Kontaveit 6-4 6-3.

It will be a significant test. They played each other last week, with the Australian edging Rogers in a match tiebreaker.

Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia plays a forehand on Saturday night. Picture: Getty Images

The Australian started scratchily against Alexandrova. She served a double-fault to drop her opening service game when attempting a second serve down the middle of the court.

The Russian was up to the occasion when facing a break point of her own in the next game, nailing an ace down the middle on the advantage court.

A second opportunity went begging for the local as well when she netted a forehand. A third was saved when the 2019 Roland Garros was overwhelmed by Alexandrova’s power.

But the Queenslander was able to find her groove from then on, using her variety to unsettle the hard-hitting Alexandrova.

The 29th seed, who defeated major winners Simona Halep and Iga Swiatek in a preparatory event in Melbourne last week, thumps the ball flat and with power.

Barty has far more shape on her groundstrokes and used her heavily top-spinning forehand to work her rival around the court as the opening set progressed.

The variety of pace and shot unsettled Alexandrova. Some forehands Barty would thunder. Others, when defending, would be lobbed high and deep.

And the world No 1’s sliced backhand was effective, as always. It was clear Alexandrova struggled when dragged forward into the court by the low-skidding slice backhands.

“I think sometimes I love to overuse it, but it was something I wanted to use a lot tonight to change the tempo of the match … and it brings me a lot of forehands as well,” Barty said.

Barty has made a habit of reeling off a number of games in succession this Australian Open and did the same again when claiming the first set 6-2.

Alexandrova raised her level in the second set, doing well to hold on to her serve early before snaring a service break to move ahead 3-2.

The Ipswich-raised right-hander had six opportunities to retrieve the service break when trailing 3-4 and finally drew level when her rival erred with a forehand.

“There is always an adjustment period. I had never played her before. I am certainly happy with the run I was able to get on and there was a good last few games there,” she said.