24 January 2017 | Tennis Queensland

Ash Barty is enjoying a career-best start to the season, progressing to the quarter finals of the Australian Open 2017 doubles with fellow Aussie Casey Dellacqua.

The duo, who made three Grand Slams finals as a pairing in 2013, hit 34 winners to trigger five breaks in their round 4 clash, beating Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER) and Kveta Peschke (CZE) 6-4 6-4.

“We’re really excited,” said an ecstatic Dellaqua. “We have been at the this stage of the tournament before but we haven’t played together in a long time at a Slam, so this is really exciting to be out here with Ash.”

Barty, who made the singles third round at Melbourne Park, says Dellacqua was instrumental in her decision to come back to tennis. A move she is clearly pleased with after rediscovering her passion and ability in the sport.

“I don’t know about my form but this one hasn’t missed a beat at all. It’s nice to come out here knowing I can trust Case 100 per cent, knowing exactly what she’s going to do, she’ll bring the best.

“That’s always been the front of our doubles, going out there to have fun and enjoy it. Win or lose, we want to play with a smile on our face and leave it all out on the court. We can always go off without regrets.”

The girls’ next assignment is a tough one, No.1 seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic which is being played tonight.

Meanwhile, Gold Coast’s Bernard Tomic was Australia’s last hope in the Open, going down to Britain’s Dan Evans 7-5 7-6 7-6 in round 3.

“Once again I played very well, lost to a quality opponent,” said Tomic in his post match press conference.

“If a guy beats me like this, then too good. You can’t be upset with yourself. I was playing solid. I was competing. I was happy with myself at times on the court. I was really satisfied with what I was doing. He just seemed to do the big points better. He went for them. If you’re beating me like that, then too good. I hope he can keep going for himself in this tournament,” he said.