Continuing her main draw dominance, world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty swept past her quarterfinal opponent Jessica Pegula in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0, in just over an hour on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old has yet to drop a single set across all five of her Australian Open match-ups, and throughout her entire run has only dropped one service game during her fourth-round match against Amanda Anisimova.
The Aussie favourite is looking all but unstoppable. If she remains on her warpath, she is poised to win her first Australian Open Grand Slam and third title overall.
She would be the first Australian to win the home-soil title since female tennis star Chris O'Neil in 1978.
"I have a couple of more years of experience under my belt in handling different experiences and problem solving out on the court," said Barty speaking to her performance in this year's Open.
"I have grown as a person. I have grown as a player. I feel like I am a more complete player," she said.
Barty will now go on to face her third consecutive U.S. opponent, Madison Keys, who in the afternoon session on Tuesday was able to break last year's French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova.
Keys' straight-set, 6-3, 6-2, victory saw her advance to her second Australian Open semifinals since 2015. Despite reaching the finals of the U.S. Open in 2017, she is yet to clutch a Grand Slam title.
In the men's, Spanish world No. 6 Rafael Nadal narrowly avoided an upset defeat at the hands of Canadian young-gun world No. 14 Denis Shapovalov, squeezing out a 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 victory after just over four hours.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)