Ashleigh Barty ‘feeling ready’ for the challenge at Wimbledon

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Ashleigh Barty pleased

World No 1 Ashleigh Barty is feeling “ready” to mount a challenge for a second Grand Slam title after making it through to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

The Australian, the 2019 French Open champion, made it past the fourth round at SW19 for the first time after a 7-5, 6-3 win over Barbora Krejcikova.

Barty had to pull out of the most recent tournament at Roland Garros with injury, but she is feeling fit again and is preparing to go even further at the All England Club.

“I’m feeling great. I’m feeling ready,” she said. “Obviously getting more and more matches is really nice to be able to feel the court under my feet.

“The focus in between matches is exactly how it always is. It’s recovery and prioritising that recovery.

“Always been a massive part of my career. Being able to do that this week has been great.

“We just continue to do all the right things. Obviously, like I’ve said, the rehabs between Paris and here in London, we had 22 or 23 days. We were able to kind of work backwards from that point. We did everything as best we could.

“It was a different preparation for this tournament. Without a doubt it was unique. I did everything in my power to make sure I was well-prepared to come into this tournament.

Ashleigh Barty serving

Ashleigh Barty is into the last eight at Wimbledon (Steven Paston/PA)

“I feel like we’re doing all the right things, we’re trying to do everything that we can each and every day to be as ready as possible for the next day. That’s no different to how we prepare for each and every tournament. I’m certainly happy with the way things are going.”

Krejcikova is the current world number one in doubles, but she is making big strides in the singles as well as a spectacular few weeks came to an end.

The Czech won at Roland Garros last month having previously never made it past the fourth round at a grand slam and then progressed to the second week at SW19, where she had never won a match previously.

But her 15-match winning run was brought to an end by Barty, who recovered from a slow start and was almost a double break down in the first set.

“That 2-4 game in the first set was a big one,” Barty added. “I felt like a couple of those break points down, I think there were one or two, I played the point a bit more aggressively and was able to be a bit more assertive. That was kind of a little bit of a change.

“Probably for the first 15 or 20 minutes, I felt like I was really struggling to pick up her ball off her racquet. I wasn’t able to make enough, give myself a chance to get into games, plain and simple.

“Once I was able to do that, getting a break back instantly at 4-3 to level things out was a good game. Again, made more balls and gave myself a chance.

“It was just about giving myself time to settle into the match in a sense of feeling super free and super comfortable, just working my way into games.”

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Ashleigh Barty

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