THE Australian Open women’s Round of 16 was complete yesterday, with one major upset amongst a big day on the park. Two of the three American competitors joined Serena Williams in the quarter finals as their remaining compatriot left in the draw was ousted by world number one Ash Barty, who disposed of Shelby Rogers in the quickest match of the day.

True to form, Barty continued her excellent run at the title on home soil with another convincing showing at Rod Laver Arena, defeating Rogers for a second time in as many  weeks. The Australian was clinical taking on the American, disposing of Rogers 6-3 6-4, hitting 21 winners to 16 unforced errors, compared to Rogers’ 14-25, and whilst Rogers was marginally more consistent on serve, winning 61 per cent of points off both her first and second serve, Barty won 76 per cent off her first serve to carve out the win.

“I knew it was going to be vital to serve well tonight,” Barty said post-match. “That was something I really wanted to try and focus on, just to try and give myself a chance to be in control of more points. There were a couple of runs of points [and] games in our match last week that Shelby was able to get on a roll and run away with it a little bit. I wanted to try and avoid that and just bring it back on my terms as much as I could, and try and be the aggressor when I could.”

Next up Barty will take on 25th seed Czech Karolina Muchova, who took out a tight 7-6 7-5 victory over Elise Mertens yesterday afternoon. Whilst the Czech got off to a sloppy 0-4 start credit to Mertens’ composure, she is not in the midst of a personal best winning streak for nothing, as she ran away with the momentum and eventually, the win in just under two hours.

Meanwhile, the remaining two Americans in this half of the draw will do battle after both 22nd seed Jennifer Brady and Jessica Pegula reigned supreme in their respective encounters. Pegula came away with the upset of the day as she disposed of fifth seed Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, getting away to a hot start in her first career win over a Top 10 player.

“I thought I served really well pretty much the whole time,” Pegula said. “I think that I kind of got a little tentative in the second set. “I played a good game to break her, then I didn’t hold serve. “That was huge.

“I’m just happy that I reset at the start of the third. I think that’s huge. Obviously you know you’re going to go three sets eventually. “I think the way I kind of switched the momentum and turned it around was really, really important.

“I can’t get more confident, it is my best result yet and I’m playing good tennis and today was a hard fought win, so, yeah, I’m feeling pretty good.”

Brady disposed of Donna Vekic in the second three-setter of the day, coming away victor in a 6-1 7-5 encounter, narrowly reigning supreme in the second set to stop the match in its tracks.

In today’s proceedings, unseeded veteran Hsieh Su-Wei will look to continue her excellent form as she takes on a player more than 10 years her junior in world number three Naomi Osaka, while a huge battle is expected between top 10 champions Simona Halep and Williams in the evening.

ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:

[1] Ash Barty (AUS) defeated Shelby Rogers (USA) 6-3 6-4
Jessica Pegula (USA) defeated [5] Elina Svitolina (UKR) 6-4 3-6 6-3
[25] Karolina Muchova (CZE) defeated [18] Elise Mertens (BEL) 7-6 7-5
[22] Jennifer Brady (USA) defeated [28] Donna Vekic (CRO) 6-1 7-5

Picture credit: Tennis Australia