Australian tennis star Ash Barty has shrugged off a snub from Serena Williams as she cruised to victory in the second round at Wimbledon.
Her crushing 6-1 6-3 win over Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck on Thursday took less than an hour and added to her 14 match winning streak.
The runaway victory comes as a reporter had to tell world champion Serena Williams during a press conference last weekend that Barty was world No.1.
‘Wow, that’s great,’ Williams, currently the world number 11, answered the reporter.
Though Barty seemed unfazed by the comments from Williams and offered a simple explanation as to why she might not have known about her ranking.
‘Serena hasn’t been at many of the tournaments lately so it’s not really something that I worry about,’ she said.
Australian tennis star Ash Barty has cruised to victory in the second round of Wimbledon (pictured, Barty following her victory against China’s Zheng Saisai on July 2)
The runaway victory comes after a reporter had to tell world champion Serena Williams during a press conference last weekend that Barty was world No.1 (pictured, Williams following her victory against Italy’s Giulia Gatto-Monticone on July 2)
Although Williams only learned of Barty’s ranking during the pre-tournament press conference, she had nothing but nice words to say about her competitor at the time.
‘I think Ash, I don’t know anyone that has anything negative to say about her. She’s like the sweetest, cutest girl on tour. She’s so nice.
‘She has the most beautiful game, such classic shots. I mean, she does everything right. Her technique is, like, flawless.
‘Obviously I’m happy for her. Yeah, it’s good. It’s good for her.’
Barty’s victory against Van Uytvanck further fuels hope that Barty will become the second woman this century to complete the French Open-Wimbledon title double.
Barty next plays British wildcard Harriet Dart on Saturday in a showstopper almost certain to be scheduled for Centre Court.
‘If I got to play on the court, it would be incredible. One of the most beautiful courts in the world,’ Barty said.
‘I’ll play whenever I’m scheduled. There’s not a bad court here at Wimbledon, all special in their own right.’
The winner of her past 18 sets stretching back to the French Open semi-finals, Barty has earned herself a huge opportunity to embark on another deep grand slam run.
Two matches into her campaign and the Australian top seed’s draw is already opening up like it did in Paris.
World number 11 Serena Williams (pictured), 37, snubbed Barty, 23, at her pre-Wimbledon press conference last weekend
The shock first-round exits of 2017 Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza and world No.22 Donna Vekic have left Barty with a seed-free passage through to at least the second week.
Swiss 13th seed Belinda Bencic looms as Barty’s highest-ranked possible last-16 opponent before a potential heavyweight quarter-final showdown with either seven-time champion Serena Williams or German titleholder Angelique Kerber.
All the talk after last Friday’s draw was of Barty’s quarter from hell featuring four former world No.1s and four former All England Club champions, among a total of seven major winners in her section.
But four grand slam champions from Barty’s pocket – Muguruza, Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and fellow Australian Samantha Stosur – have already bombed out.
Barty was also slated to strike a succession of big guns in Paris, but her supposed perilous draw never eventuated as the 23-year-old marched to Roland Garros glory only needing to beat one seed en route to the title – world No.14 Madison Keys in the quarter-finals.
Barty recently rose to number one after back-to-back wins at the French Open and the Birmingham Classic. (pictured, Barty after her Birmingham victory on June 23)
‘It was still tough. It just wasn’t tough by what everyone expected and spoke about in regards to seedings,’ Barty said.
Van Uytvanck reached the final 16 at Wimbledon last year and loomed as a dangerous opponent for the top seed.
Barty, though, assumed control from the outset, breaking the Belgian twice to charge to a 5-0 lead.
She wrapped up the first set in 25 minutes before breaking Van Uytvanck for a third time early in the second set.
When landing her first serve Barty conceded just five points all match and dropped serve only once – when trying to close out the contest at 5-2 in the second set.
She hit 14 winners and committed a meagre seven unforced errors in matching her Wimbledon-best run to the third round from last year.
‘Really clean match overall, not too many errors across the whole match,’ Barty said.
‘Bit of a blemish trying to serve out the match but really happy with today.
‘What happens in the rest of the draw is up to everyone else. It’s not up to me.’
Barty needed less than an hour to cast aside Van Uytvanck at her recent game (pictured, Barty poses with the Grand Chelem Cup on June 9)