“Bloody Proud Of Her”: Ashleigh Barty Lauds Ajla Tomljanovic After Incredible Wimbledon Championships 2021 Run

After a disappointing outing at the French Open last month, world number one Ashleigh Barty is having a successful run at the on-going Wimbledon Championships as she reached the semi-finals with a straight sets win over compatriot Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1,6-3.

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Having never played each other before, the matchup stirred excitement as Tomljanovic was slowly finding her way to make deep runs at grand slam tournaments.

Her fourth-round match against British qualifier Emma Raducanu ended abruptly as the Brit retired from the contest during the second set.

Tomljanovic’s best match of the tournament came in the third-round when she defeated the in-form Jelena Ostapenko in a dramatic encounter.

Ashleigh Barty dominated Ajla Tomljanovic to clinch the first set

But, against Barty today, Tomljanovic looked out of sorts right from the first game as the former’s all-round game didn’t give room for Ajla to settle in.

However, even the world number one didn’t look to be in full-form and struggled with her serve. She made just 24% of the first serves in.

But, the winning percentage on both the first and second serves for Barty were extremely high as they kept her front-foot right through out the first set.

In less than half an hour, Ash Barty won the set, 6-1. Even though Tomljanovic would find it hard to win the match after being a set down, Barty’s lack of poise on serve might prove handy.

Coming to the second set, it was Ash Barty who drew the first blood as she broke the initial service game of Tomjlanovic. But, Ajla was quick enough to break Barty back immediately in the next game.

Barty reached her maiden semi-final at Wimbledon

Just when the center court crowd thought it would be an exciting encounter, Tomljanovic’s baseline game began to wear out as she lost yet another service game to her compatriot.

Barty wasn’t going to let go of this opportunity as she raised her game when it mattered the most. Serving to win the match at 5-3, Ashleigh Barty hit three accurate serves to close out the match in straight sets 6-1,6-3.

The 2019 French Open winner, who is known to always say good things about fellow players, praised Tomljanovic for a great run at SW19 this year.

“Ajla was always going to bring out the best in me. She’s had an incredible fortnight and all the Aussies back home are bloody proud of her”,?told Barty.

The world number one will now meet Angelique Kerber in the semi-finals at Wimbledon Championships.

Also read: ?Crowd Being Against You?: Ajla Tomljanovic Reveals Advice From Dad and Boyfriend Matteo Berrettini at Wimbledon Championships 2021