Ashleigh Barty couldn’t ask for a better start of her 2017 season. The 20-year-old, returned to tennis competitions in 2016 after two years of hiatus, had been granted a Wild Card for the first WTA Premier of the year at Brisbane International, winning her debut match with a double 6-2 against qualifier Aleksandra Krunic, young Serbian hope after the retirement of Ana Ivanovic.
Barty, currently number 271 in the world, didn’t have a hard time overcoming her opponent, who struggled to get in the game until the end of the match.
The Australian easily books the first set
The Serbian had been the first one to get a chance to take the lead in the first set, immediately gaining a break point, but without converting it. Barty held, and then reacted by breaking her opponent’s serve right away for a 2-0 lead.
Krunic immediately took the break back to 15, but couldn’t consolidate it by winning the game on her own serve.
From then on, the Australian conceded little or nothing to the Serbian, dropping only one point on her service games and setting up a battle in the last game while Krunic was serving to stay in the set. Despite having been 40-15 up, the Serbian conceded two set-points to her opponent, who ended up winning the game and the first set with a 6-2 scoreline.
Barty holds her momentum to claim the match
Despite the rain that interrupted the matches on the other courts, the play reprised under the roof of the Pat Rafter Arena, with Barty starting on serve. The Australian didn’t waste her early chances, holding her first game and converting her first break point after a battled game to consolidate her advantage. A comfortable hold to love gave her a clear 3-0 lead.
Krunic tried to get back in the game, holding to 15, but once again could nothing against an Australian very solid on serve, who once again held to love without struggling.
Barty kept her momentum battling again on her opponent’s serve to break her again and gain the chance to serve for the match.
Krunic tried to grant herself a chance to re-open the games for the match. She battled during Barty’s service game, taking control of the important rallies and forcing the Australian, who often needed to rely on her second serve, to hitting errors. The Serbian’s efforts had been repaid and with a volley winner on her second break point she won one of the breaks back and reduced her disadvantage.
This hadn’t been enough to stop Barty’s momentum; the Australian didn’t seem discouraged for the lost game, and immediately reacted gaining two match points on Krunic’s serve. She converted the first one to close the match with a score of 6-2, 6-2.
The Australian had been helped by her first serve during all the match, with only 63 percent of first serves in but 77 percent of point won with that. Krunic had been able to take advantage of Barty’s second serve many times, but it hadn’t been enough for her to battle back like she had done in the second-to-last game of the second set.
“It’s so good to be back out here”, Barty had said in the press conference after her win. “Being my home court, this is one of my favourite places in the world”.
Ashleigh Barty will advance in the second round in Brisbane where she’ll meet world number one and last year’s runner-up Angelique Kerber. It will be the players’ first career meeting. “It’s so exciting for me to get a crack at the world number 1”, Barty said. “It’s the perfect way to start the season”.