Australia’s Ash Barty has advanced to the third round at the US Open for the second straight year after a 7-5, 6-3 defeat of Lucie Safarova.
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Photo: NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 29: Ashleigh Barty of Australia returns the ball during her women’s singles second round match against Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic on Day Three of the 2018 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 29, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Barty served 10 aces to 2 and had 14 unforced errors compared to 30 from her Czech opponent. Safarova hit more winners with 25 to 18 but it was the unforced errors that proved costly.
The Australian won 86% of points when she landed her first serve, she would, however, want to get her 1st serve percentage a bit higher after serving at 53% in an evening match.
Barty has lost in her past two tournaments to world no. 1 Simona Halep, that won’t happen this tournament after the shock first-round loss for Halep.
It was projected that Barty would play Garbiñe Muguruza in the third round, that was before world no. 202 qualifier Karolina Muchova from the Czech Republic had other ideas. She upset the world no. 12 Spaniard 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
