Top seed Ashleigh Barty had no trouble reaching the third round of Wimbledon 2019, as she spent only about 55 minutes to beat Belgian world No.58 Alison Van Uytvanck 6-1 6-3 on Court No.2 on Thursday.
Coming off title wins at Roland Garros and on the grass of Birmingham, Barty raced to her 14th straight victory to equal her best showing at Wimbledon, last year’s third-round appearance.
Playing her first tournament as the world No.1, Barty faced just one break point in the short second-round encounter, when serving for the match at 5-2 in the second set. Even though the Australian dropped that serve, she conquered the 25-year-old Van Uytvanck in the following game, sealing match point with a backhand volley winner.
Next up for Barty is British No.3 Harriet Dart, who took out Beatriz Haddad Maia, the first-round conqueror of former Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza. By the way, Dart is involved in a bit of mixed doubles controversy, as her partner Jay Clarke dumped her at the last moment, lured by the invitation to play with 15-year-old phenomenon Coco Gauff. The 22-year-old Dart is now left hanging:
Essentially, due to the timing, I wasn’t able to find another partner in the time period available. I did ask a number of people, but a lot of them were set up and that’s it. I think you should ask Jay about his reasons, that’s all I want to say.
