Share

Barty cruises into Wimbledon third round

London - Ashleigh Barty's bid to become the first woman since Serena Williams in 2015 to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year stayed on track with a 6-1, 6-3 second round victory over Belgium's Alison van Uytvanck on Thursday.

The 23-year-old Australian world number one will play either British wild card Harriet Dart or Brazilian qualifier Beatriz Haddad Maia for a place in the last 16.

"I had to make a lot of returns first and foremost and then try and nullify her variety a little bit," she said.

Barty, who if she achieves the Roland Garros-Wimbledon double will be only the eighth woman to do so, said she would switch off from tennis for the moment. 

"I'm sure there's some cricket on or something," she said in reference to the ongoing World Cup in England where Australia have made the semi-finals.

Barty seized the initiative from the outset on Thursday breaking Van Uytvanck, who had eliminated 2017 champion Garbine Muguruza in the second round of last year's tournament, twice in succession.

She repeated that in the second set and although the 25-year-old Belgian broke Barty when she served for the match, the Australian made no mistake when presented with a match point on her opponent's serve in the following game.  

Also easing through was 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens who took the first eight games against her Chinese opponent Wang Yafan before winning 6-0, 6-2.

Stephens, seeded nine, will play either British 19th seed Johanna Konta or Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the next round.  

They were merely the appetisers for the highly-charged men's singles second round match later on Thursday on Centre Court between two-time champion Rafael Nadal and fiery but talented Australian Nick Kyrgios.

Kyrgios, who stunned the Spaniard when ranked 144th and aged 19 he beat him in 2014, and Nadal have exchanged words earlier this season with Nadal accusing the Australian of lacking respect.

Also on the programme is eight-time champion Roger Federer, looking for a more convincing display than his opening round four-setter, up against British wild card Jay Clarke.

It will be asking a lot of Clarke to emulate Tim Henman, the only other Briton to beat the Swiss at Wimbledon back in 2001 in the quarter-finals.

Home fans appetites will be sated when former world number one Andy Murray plays in the men's doubles - months after 'life-changing hip surgery' - with French partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert against Marius Copil of Romania and Herbert's compatriot Ugo Humbert.

Murray's mixed doubles partner Serena Williams will also be in action facing Slovenian qualifier Kaja Juvan.


We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
How much would you be prepared to pay for a ticket to watch the Springboks play against the All Blacks at Ellis Park or Cape Town Stadium this year?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
R0 - R200
33% - 1818 votes
R200 - R500
32% - 1778 votes
R500 - R800
19% - 1084 votes
R800 - R1500
8% - 461 votes
R1500 - R2500
3% - 187 votes
I'd pay anything! It's the Boks v All Blacks!
5% - 254 votes
Vote
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE