Ashleigh Barty describes her first match without crowd

World no. 1 Ashleigh Barty advanced into the last 16 at the home Major for the third straight year thanks a convincing 6-2, 6-4 victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova in 80 minutes.

Barty lost serve twice and grabbed five return games, hitting 14 winners and 19 unforced errors. The Aussie had the advantage in the more extended rallies, mixing up her game nicely to seal the deal and preserve energy for the upcoming tests. Alexandrova grabbed an early break in the opening game following Barty's double fault and fended off three break chances in the next one to forge a 2-0 lead.

Ashleigh got her name on the scoreboard in the third game with a service winner and pulled the break back at 15 when Ekaterina sprayed a backhand mistake to level the score at 2-2. The Aussie converted the third break chance in game six to open a 4-2 gap, held at 30 and closed the set in 39 minutes when Alexandrova netted a forehand in game eight.

Both players served well at the beginning of the second set before Ekaterina broke with a great drop shot that sent her 3-2 in front. The Russian forced an error from the Aussie for a hold at love and a 4-2 advantage, looking good to send the encounter into a decider. Returning in game eight, Barty seized the sixth break chance to level the score at 4-4 and earn momentum before sealing the deal with a forehand drive-volley winner in game ten that propelled her into the last 16.

"It changes the sound of the court a little bit. It's something I've never experienced before ever in my life, and it's very strange. We had to have a bit of a chat about it with my team to prepare and try to be ready for anything, but I didn't want it to affect the way I played tonight and how I went about my business. I sometimes love to overuse slice, but it was certainly something I wanted to implement a lot tonight to try and change the tempo of the match.

Get it back on my terms a bit, and then it brings me some forehands as well. My leg feels good; it didn't affect me at all today. It won't affect me at all by the end of the tournament; I'll be ready to go no matter what," Ashleigh Barty said.