Australian Open: Ashleigh Barty into quarter-finals in Melbourne
Ashleigh Barty again showed her prowess on a home court to overcome Amanda Anisimova 6-4 6-3 and move into the Australian Open quarter-finals.
The world No 1, who beat Anisimova on her run to the French Open title in 2019, proved to be the steadier player on the key points during the 74-minute contest.
Although Barty had her streak of 63 straight service holds broken, her ability to absorb the power of her 20-year-old rival and draw errors proved critical.
Anisimova had come into the match off the back of knocking out Naomi Osaka and Barty reserved great praise for her opponent following their contest.
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Barty did see her run of consecutive service holds come to an end, she then won six of the next seven games in the second set.
The world No 1 did not allow Anisimova any rhythm during the contest. She used her backhand slice intelligently and consistently put the ball into the corners.
Barty will now face another American, Jessica Pegula, on Wednesday for a place in the semi-finals of her home Grand Slam.
Pegula is through to this stage of the Slam for the second year in a row and upset fifth seed Maria Sakkari 7-6 (7-0) 6-3 to do so.
