Ashleigh Barty storms into the third round of the Australian Open after breezing past Lucia Bronzetti in 52 minutes

ByJames Kilpatrick

Updated 19/01/2022 at 07:45 GMT

The world number one laid down her title credentials on Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday morning as she comfortably dispatched Bronzetti in under an hour. Barty conceded just two games in the match, bringing her total in the tournament to just three so far this year. Stream the 2022 Australian Open live and on demand on discovery+.

Ash Barty is into the third round of the Australian Open for the sixth time of her career with a convincing 6-1 6-1 win over Lucia Bronzetti on Rod Laver Arena.

The home favourite took just 52 minutes to beat the Italian qualifier and will now face No 30 seed Camila Giorgi in the third round as the Australian bids to win the Melbourne Slam for the first time.

Barty expects Giorgi to be a tough test and says she will look to play with variety against her Italian opponent.

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"She's an incredible ball striker," the 25-year-old said. "One of the most athletic girls out here and she is not afraid to stay on the baseline and put you under some time pressure from that first strike.

"I'll have to have my running shoes on, I'm sure I'll get the slice backhand out a bit to bring in some variation and we'll see how it goes."

'An incredible ball striker' - Barty previews Giorgi showdown after beating Bronzetti

The world number one took the first set in only 26 minutes as she dominated against the world No 142 who beat Varvara Gracheva in three sets to reach the second round. Barty hit 11 winners and converted six of the seven points she took on at the net.

Bronzetti’s resistance was broken early in the second set as the Italian double faulted at 1-1 to hand Barty a crucial break after only 11 minutes. Barty went a double break up six minutes later and never looked back after that, winning both her service games with ease.

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