Melbourne, Jan 17 : World No 1 Ashleigh Barty moved into Australian Open second round after beating Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine on Monday at the Rod Laver Arena.
Barty registered a 6-0 6-1 win over the Ukrainian in 54 minutes in the preliminary round.
The Australian player will be next up against Lucia Bronzetti of Italy.
“This is beautiful, I’ve said it a few times, it’s felt like an eternity since I’ve been back on this beautiful court,” said Barty in her on-court interview.
“I felt like it was nice and clean. End to end I did a good job in adjusting. There is quite a little wind at court level here. …Overall I felt I was able to find the forehand and control the court,” she added.
The top seed dropped just one game against the Ukrainian in the first round. She was in control of almost every exchange, dragging Tsurenko around the court in all directions with heavy forehands.
Tsurenko, ranked 119, found herself trying to find rhythm from disadvantageous court positions.
