One poor game per set is crippling Barty’s shot at a major

One loose a game set is the only thing stopping Ash Barty from contending for a grand slam title.

Australian players, from left, Ajla Tomljanovic, Daria Gavrilova, Ashleigh Barty and Samantha Stosur on a harbour cruise before the Sydney International. Picture: Getty Images

Serves out wide. Serves down the T. Kick serves. Sliced serves. Chipped one-handed backhands. Topspun two-handed backhands. Heavily topspun. Gently topspun. Crosscourt groundstrokes. Down-the-line groundstrokes. The sort of dyed-in-the-wool volleys you get from playing more doubles than Newcombe and Roche. Two-out-of-three victories. Ash Barty had a decent Hopman Cup.

But her most valuable round-robin, pressure-free match was not the straight-set defeats of ex-French Open champion Garbine Muguruza and Frenchwoman Alize Cornet that were surgical enough to require a scalpel and several stitches to their wounds. It was the 6-4 6-4 loss to Angelique Kerber that told the story.

It proved Barty could go toe-to-toe with a three-time major champion but not yet for long enough. Kerber was at full and relentless throttle in Perth. She had to be. Barty had the more imaginative and dangerous all-court game but Kerber rolled on a like a tank until Barty had the out-of-the-blue wobble that still exists.

The difference in that high-quality clash was the one glitch that Barty takes into this week’s mini-major at the Sydney International and next week’s major-major at Melbourne Park. One loose game per set.

At 1-2 in Perth, Kerber’s swung a first serve to Barty’s backhand. Most female players have one, and only one, metronomic method of banging the ball around. Barty has more variation on her backhand than her peers have in their entire repertoires, and here she chipped her return like Ken Rosewall in a skirt. Kerber hit a forehand approach. Deep.

Barty rifled a two-handed, crosscourt backhand, firmly overspun, before Kerber pushed a forehand volley down the line. Barty scampered over. Better footwork than Bojangles.

She tossed up a running forehand lob. Kerber’s smash went where Barty least expected it, up the middle. It wrong-footed Barty, who thought it destined for the backhand corner.

She pistol-whipped an off-balance, retreating, heavily topspun forehand passing shot to win the point. It was brilliant. You could win a major with that stuff.

Serving at 2-2, Barty was in strife at 30-30. She dispatched an ace up the centre. Hard and flat. At 40-30, she directed an unplayable serve wide to Kerber’s forehand. It kicked like a mule. You could win a major with that sort of clutch play. But then, but then. Serving at 3-3, the arena fell silent as Barty lost her serve to love. It took the blink of an eye. It came from nowhere. A forehand was shanked into the courtside seats for her serve to be conceded.

It was the only poor game from either of them, and it decided the set. Ditto for the second set, when another loose, error-riddled service game from Barty was the difference. Her best was good enough against Kerber, which means her best is good enough against anyone at the Australian Open. She just has to do it for long enough. One loose game is one too many.

She begins her Sydney International campaign against Latvia’s ex-French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko. The winner plays World No 1 Simona Halep. The draw is no nightmare; in fact, it’s the dream scenario. No one wants to be in Sydney too long this week. The sooner you get to Melbourne Park’s practice courts, the better. Barty gets high-quality matches from Australian Open contenders. If she beats Ostapenko and/or Halep, which is every chance of happening, she’ll head to Melbourne late — but with momentum. If she’s beaten in the next few days, she can settle in for a hefty slab of practice with precise knowledge of where she has fallen short.

Ostapenko is 21 years old and a major champion because she ran unfathomably hot at the 2017 French Open.

Barty is 22 and holding a poor majors record because she gets handcuffed by the loose game that comes from nowhere. The chink is a small one but for now, a significant one.

Her first proper tour match of the year is a belter. Barty versus Ostapenko — give it five years and they could be taking a swing in the final at Melbourne Park.