Tennis: Top seed Ash Barty overcomes shaky serve to progress at Wimbledon

London: Australian top seed Ash Barty advanced with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Russian Anna Blinkova in the second round at Wimbledon on Centre Court.

Barty served nine double faults but fired 33 winners and broke six times to set up a third round match with Czech Katerina Siniakova.

Barty’s forehand was called out on her second match point but a replay showed it clipped the line. The point was replayed and Barty clinched the win when Blinkova hit a shot long.

She had other problems, too, especially with her serve. Aside from the slew of double-faults, Barty was broken three times in the match and had 33 unforced errors.

Norrie advances

Italian seventh seed and Queen’s Club champion Matteo Berrettini beat Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3 6-4 7-6(4), reaching the third round with two breaks of serve while the Dutchman failed to convert any of his nine break points.

Briton Cameron Norrie was 3-0 down in the first set before claiming 11 games in a row, eventually winning 6-3 6-1 6-2 to book a third round clash with Roger Federer or Richard Gasquet.

Third seed Elina Svitolina, who reached the semi-finals two years ago, suffered a shock 6-3 6-4 defeat by Poland’s Magda Linette in the second round. Six of the top 10 women’s seeds have been knocked out so far this week.