Ashleigh
Barty broke her quarterfinal jinx at the Australian Open with a 6-2, 6-0
straight games victory over Jessica Pegula at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
In her last five matches, Barty just lost 17 games to reach her fourth Grand
Slam semifinal. This is, meanwhile, the second time she qualified for the
semifinal at the home major.

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Barty
is bidding to become the first Australian to win the women’s singles title at Melbourne Park since Chris O’Neil in 1978. Having lifted her third career title on
home soil in Adelaide three weeks ago, Barty is now on a nine-match winning
streak.

In
the semifinal, the Australian will face Madison Keys, who is on a 10-match
winning streak in 2022.

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In
Tuesday’s semifinal, both players saw an error-strewn opening few games. But
while Barty committed 16 unforced errors to eight winners in the first set, she
nonetheless gained immediate control with her superior focus on big points.
Pegula, meanwhile, found only two winners to 14 unforced errors in the first
set and was unable to take advantage of what proved to be a brief opportunity.

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Barty
broke from 40-0 down in the first game and held for 3-1 after Pegula netted a
second serve return on the breakpoint. Thereafter, Barty found her groove and
motored through the remainder of the match with a streak of nine consecutive
games. She would lose only six more points on serve.

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In
the second half of the first set and throughout a supreme second set, Barty was
in glorious form. She carved up the court with short backhand slices to set
herself up for a winning pass, she found a superb lob to turn defence into
offence to seal the first break of set two, and she was a step ahead of Pegula
in every extended rally. Barty finished the second set with nine winners and
six unforced errors, while Pegula added another 12 unforced errors to only five
more winners.

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Pegula
had initially deployed a net-rushing strategy, but the American could not find
the execution at the start of the match. Later, she would find it used against
her as Barty, sensing weakness, brought her forwards repeatedly. Pegula would
ultimately win only three of 12 net points overall.