1 March 2013 | Tennis Queensland
Promising Australian teenager Ashleigh Barty has made her first WTA quarterfinal, advancing to the last eight of the rain-delayed BMW Malaysian Open.
Barty, 16, was too good for Zarina Diyas, outlasting the 242nd-ranked qualifier 7-6(3) 6-4 in a match spanning one hour and 34 minutes.
She will next play world No.29 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the WTA International-level event, after the Russian brushed aside Uzbekistan’s Akgul Amanmuradova in straight-sets.
Regarded as one of the best local tennis players to come through in the past decade, Barty enjoyed a strong start to the year by reaching the Australian Open women’s doubles final with Casey Dellacqua.
Against Diyas on Thursday, Barty’s strong serving again came to the fore.
The Queenslander produced five aces, won more than 70 points on her first serve and faced just one break point throughout the straight-set encounter.
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