Star on the rise as giantkiller Ash Barty plays her backhand ace

After disposing of World No 1 Simona Halep, Ash Barty is the hot favourite ahead of her quarter-final showdown this afternoon.

A victorious Ash Barty celebrating her second round win over Simona Halep yesterday. Picture: Getty Images

It’s the shot that built Australian tennis. The sliced backhand. The rarity in this demolition era of metronomic topspin groundstrokes. Ash Barty has a killer ­version of the age-old stroke … and she used it with surgical precision to beat World No 1 Simona Halep and stamp her credentials as an Australian Open contender.

Barty’s classic sliced backhand was a throwback to the golden era of heavily undercut shots skimming across a court like stones thrown across a pond.

The 23-year-old Barty quit tennis in 2015 to play Big Bash cricket but when she realised her original sport wasn’t a bad gig after all, she rocketed up to a world No 15 ranking and yesterday conjured the biggest win of her career. After her commanding 6-4 6-4 win over Halep, last year’s Australian Open finalist and French Open champion, kids were lined five-deep above the players’ tunnel to get her autograph on caps, posters and jumbo-sized balls.

One young girl kept calling out during the match, “You can do this, Ash!” It was heartwarming. “I love hearing that,” Barty told The Australian. “If I can get one kid excited about tennis, put a smile on the face of one young girl or boy, I’m as happy as I can be.

“That’s a huge thing for me. That makes me sleep well at night.”

It’s been a while since Australian tennis had someone to be unanimously embraced. The ­atmosphere was upbeat. The ­ovation for Barty was loud, prolonged. She thanked everyone for turning up on a day hotter than hell in the concrete jungle of the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre.

Asked about the ace up her sleeve, the sort of backhand that would have done Evonne Goolagong and Ken Rosewall proud, Barty said: “It certainly wasn’t easy to learn. I was taught from a young age how to hit it. I was driven to keep working on it, to get better at it, to have that point of ­difference.

“So many legends in Australian tennis grew up playing on grass courts. With the way the balls and racquets were then, it was a shot everyone had. But the game has changed. I think it’s an advantage. At times I’ve kind of lost it but I’ve just kept chipping away.”

Barty will face 10th seed, Belgian Elise Mertens, from 2.30pm AEDT today.