Ash Barty cemented her status as favourite for the Australian Open title as she maintained her record of not dropping a set all tournament against Jessica Pegula.
As has been her custom at her home Grand Slam this year, she again raced through the match, conceding just two games for a 6-2 6-0 win to book her place in the semi-finals.
To American Pegula’s credit, the opening set was tighter than the scoreline suggested, Barty facing break points and having to dig in to maintain her unblemished record on serve in Melbourne in 2022.
But Pegula found herself fighting to stay in the contest from the moment she dropped her opening service game. A second break took Barty to 5-2 and she rounded off the set with an ace.
From there, Barty managed to find rhythm with her forehand and won the last 10 straight games of the match to complete an easy second set and line up a semi-final against Madison Keys.
Keys had a dire 2021 with injuries and ended the year with just 11 individual singles victories. Her 6-3 6-2 win over Barbora Krejcikova was already her 11th win in 2022 alone.
It leaves Barty just two matches away from being the first home Australian Open winner since 1978.
“I had a lot of fun out here,” said the Australian. “I was able to serve and find a lot of forehands. I was happy to take the game on, be aggressive on my forehand. I felt I was able to do that throughout the match. She made me play my best tennis this week.”
