“She is an incredible athlete, incredible competitor, she turns up point after point. She is a champion, she will be in the deep stages of majors for some years to come,” she said.
Barty felt out the young challenger for the opening games of the match, getting a handle on her game and how to approach her, before she started to pick holes in her game.
The Australian understood she needed to take the tall, big-hitting Anisimova out of her comfort zone, sitting in the middle of the court, able to wind up on her shots, and started moving her about the court, particularly wide to her forehand side.
Anisimova created an upset last round when she beat reigning champion Naomi Osaka and set up the clash with Barty. Last year Barty fell in the quarter-finals to Karolina Muchova and there was no sense in this game at least of dropping her guard or form against the talented young American.
Amanda Anisimova feels the pressure against Ash Barty.Credit:Eddie Jim
Barty’s speed on court unsettled Anisimova, running down short balls and troubling her with her slice backhand.
Barty’s serve, ordinarily so precise, failed her for a period in the opening set when she had successive double faults, to offer Anisimova a break point. She was able to steady after that, recovering to be strong on serve and not give Anisimova another look in for the set, which she went on to win in 37 minutes.
Anisimova looked like she steadied after that first-set loss when she was able to break Barty’s first service game in the second to take the advantage.
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But the Australian kept her composure, kept the pressure on Anisimova’s serve and not only recovered the dropped game but broke Anisimova twice to take the lead in the set and then close it out in sharp time.
It’s easy to look at Barty’s matches through the lens of the opponent and what they bring to her but it overlooks the roundness of Barty’s game. Her serve was strong, her slice is beautiful, she strikes the ball as well as anyone and has smarts on moving her opponent around the court. She is No. 1 because she has such a complete game.
It’s a complete game that had questions asked of it by Anisimova but Barty had confident answers for every question.
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Barty too clever for young challenger, marches into quarter-finals
Source: Philippines Alive
