Ashleigh Barty is not only entertaining fans with her wicked array of shots spin that confounds and direction that displaces she’s also embracing every aspect of the Australian Open.
Melbourne Park is home and the Rod Laver Arena her drawing room.
Australia’s darling didn’t miss a beat as she snuffed out the challenge of American Madison Keys 6-1, 6-3 on Thursday to become the first player from the host nation to make the women’s title round in 42 years. Since Wendy Turnbull in 1980.
The world No.1’s 62-minute semifinal victory extended her winning streak for the season to 10 matches.
Barty has spent just six hours and six minutes on the court so far in the championship, dropping a mere 21 games in her charge to the final. The 25-year-old will take on the No.27th seed Danielle Collins for the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup on Saturday.
“It’s brilliant to be playing in the business end of your home Slam,” Barty said. “Saturday is going to be a new experience for me. I will go out there and embrace it, smile, try and do the best that I can. It's been an incredible January, an incredible summer for us. I'm really looking forward to having one last crack here, to really go out there and enjoy it.”
Barty, who had brushed aside the challenge of her previous two opponents, Americans Jessica Pegula and Amanda Anisimova, who like Keys are powerful strikers of the ball, was suitably primed for her semi-final outing.
The 25-year-old quickly took the upper hand, breaking her opponent in the opening game of the match. Keys perhaps rushed into forcing the play, appeared to want to thump every ball for a winner, overlooking opportunities to make the woman down the other end play.
The American, who led the leader board for aces at 30 after five matches, just had one on Thursday. She also looked to have dropped pace on her first serve, her average speed for first serves was 10 kmph slower than her opponent, whose serve thrives on placement not pace. Keys wasn’t at her aggressive best on the return either winning just 10 of 46 points.
Collins comes out swinging
Collins’ performance in the semifinal, where she put out the seventh seed Iga Swiatek 6-4, 6-1, was emphatic, leaving no room for doubt.
She crushed her opponent’s challenge and in doing so checked-off a milestone for herself, her first major final. Collins, whose only previous Grand Slam semifinal appearance was also at Melbourne Park in 2019, had seven aces and 27 winners in a performance that cut-off all escape routes for the Pole.
“When I have a really clear idea of my tactics and what I want to do, it's easier for me to get there,” Collins said of the 78-minute affair. “Today with the tactics and game plan that I had, getting off to the solid start that I did, I felt like I was really in the zone. There wasn't a lot getting in my way.”
