World No.1 Ash Barty thrashed Victoria Azarenka to advance to the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Masters.
The Aussie, in her first tournament since winning bronze in the mixed doubles in Tokyo, delivered the dominant 72-minute victory in ruthless fashion smashing the former world No.1 Azarenka 6-0 6-2.
The result was never beyond doubt with the Aussie flying out of the blocks to win 10 straight games to start the match. It was a much more clinical display than her opening clash against Britain’s Heather Watson to win 6-4 7-6.
Azarenka, a two-time grand slam winner, was blown off the court by Barty’s all round game and was on the backfoot from the outset through the Australian’s pin-point first serve.
Barty’s dominant win was the talk of the tennis circuit, with the convincing nature of the victory causing many to take notice.
The Queenslander was the favourite heading into the match, but nobody expected world No. 13 Azarenka to fold the way she did.
https://twitter.com/WTA_Espanol/status/1428438076662112257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Tennis reporter Ben Rothenberg reacted by tweeting “crikey” while the official WTA Twitter account simply said “wow”.
Commentator Jose Morgado said: “The world number one did #1 things.”
The Tennis Podcast’s social media team tweeted a gif of Azarenka with a caption saying “what is happening?”
The Aussie will face either reigning French Open champion Barbola Krejcikova or Garbine Muguruza for a place in the final four.
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