Ash Barty has showcased her fighting qualities in another pre-Australian Open victory at Melbourne Park.

Australia’s world number one advanced to the quarter-finals in her first tournament back, with a 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Czech Marie Bouzkova.

Barty’s gritty win sent a reminder to her rivals on the eve of Thursday night’s Open draw and on a day of unprecedented women’s talent on display.

The world’s top-six female players, as well as 23-time grand slam winner Serena Williams, former Open champions Victoria Azarenka and Angelique Kerber, and French Open titleholder Iga Swiatek were all on show.

Never before, not even at the Open, have fans been treated to so much class on the one day, with grand slam draws splitting the world’s elite stars into two halves of the draw.

But the COVID-19 pandemic has forced officials into a complete rethink, with six tournaments running concurrently at Melbourne Park to allow competitors as much court time as possible before the year’s first major starts on Monday.

And it is proving a smorgasbord for viewers and providing a glimpse of what’s to come over the next three weeks.

But all Aussie eyes were on Barty as she continued her comeback after not being sighted on tour since a semi-final loss to Petra Kvitova last February.

She did not disappoint, surviving a stern two-hour test of her nerve to progress to the last eight of the Yarra Valley Classic.

After shaking off some rust in a three-set exhibition loss to world number two Simona Halep in Adelaide and then blowing off more cobwebs with a straight-sets win over Ana Bogdan in her tournament opener, Barty was forced to dig deep on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old breezed through the opening set without dropping a game, then recovered from losing the second and retained her cool in a topsy-turvy deciding set to prevail.

Barty will play American Shelby Rogers in the last eight and could potentially face Williams in the semi-finals.

AAP



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