No-fuss Barty casts off injury cloud, cruises into fourth round

Was Barty’s bid to better her 2020 Australian Open semi-final finish doomed? Was an injury the reason?

Despite the early scare, the answer was a definitive no. Nor did the world No.1 show any discomfort near where she wore the strapping.

Barty signalled she wasn’t going to be walked-over by the Russian in the second game where she pushed her to defend three break-points.

She eventually broke back in the fourth game and the sixth game and went onto win the first set 6-2 with ease.

Alexandrova knew Barty’s slice was a scary and relatively uncommon weapon, biting back at opponents when it lands, making players who’ve hit tennis balls their whole lives look silly.

Because of this the world No.33 tried mighty hard to hit as much as she could to Barty’s forehand early to avoid it.

The only problem was that Barty’s was hitting her forehand as sweetly as she had since returning to the court in January, after almost a year off due to the pandemic.

So back to the slice she went. The result was devastating for the Russian, typified by the winner Barty hit to bring up 15-0 at 5-2 in the first set.

Barty raced to a ball placed deep and wide in the court and sliced it flat and hard, the ball dropping quickly half-way into Alexandrova’s court and stopping virtually on a dime.

Alexandrova lifted though, not allowing Barty to make her scamper around the court and breaking her in the fifth game of the second set. She looked best when she attacked the net early in points.

It didn’t last long though. Barty brought the slice back a few games later and broke her opponent, who had never been to a fourth round of a grand slam despite four third-round berths.

Barty was in full control. She held serve the next game and raced to a 0-30 lead trying to break for the match, Alexandrova looking extremely uncomfortable hitting Barty’s slice and then slamming her racquet on the ground in frustration.

The Russian forced it to deuce but Barty prevailed with a volley straight past her, winning the second set 6-4.