London: If the pressure is getting to Ashleigh Barty at Wimbledon, she’s doing a great job of hiding it.
The top-ranked Australian came into the grass-court Grand Slam tournament after winning the French Open and a Wimbledon warm-up event in Birmingham. And she’s now won two in a row at the All England Club to reach the third round and stretch her winning streak to 14 straight.
Barty beat Alison van Uytvanck 6-1, 6-3 on Thursday, needing only 55 minutes on No. 2 Court to advance. And it could have been even quicker but she failed to serve out the match at 5-2 in the second set — the only time she was broken.
“Pretty sharp right from the start,” the top-seeded Barty said. “I was able to implement what I wanted to right away and put the pressure straight back on her.”
Barty is playing her first tournament as No. 1 but has never been past the third round at Wimbledon. She will next face Harriet Dart, a British wild card entry making her second appearance at Wimbledon.
No. 9 Sloane Stephens of the United States and No. 15 Wang Qiang of China also advanced to third round. Stephens beat Wang Yafan 6-0, 6-2, and Wang ousted Tamara Zidansek 6-1, 6-2.
Sam Querrey, a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2017, reached the third round in the men’s draw. The unseeded American defeated Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.
Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic was fined his full prize money of £45,000 for not meeting “the required professional standards” in his first-round loss.
Tomic, a quarter-finalist in 2011, lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 on Tuesday.
“It is the opinion of the referee that the performance of Bernard Tomic in his first round match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga did not meet the required professional standards,” the All England Club said in a statement.
Tomic can appeal the decision.
After the loss, Tomic was asked if he was happy with the effort he put in. “Next question, please,” was his answer.
He was later asked about being fined $15,000 at the All England Club in 2017 for saying during a news conference that he was “a little bit bored out there” after losing a match.
Tomic declined to answer.
Fines for a lack of effort are on the rise in tennis following the introduction of a performance rule in 2018 that aims to deter players, who enter tournaments while injured from retiring during first-round matches.
American player Anna Tatishvili was fined $50,000 at this year’s French Open after a 6-0, 6-1 loss to Maria Sakkari of Greece. Tatishvili, who has appealed, had been playing in her first competition since October 2017 because of an ankle injury.
Mischa Zverev was fined $45,000 at the 2018 Australian Open. He retired from his match against Hyeon Chung in the second set, citing a viral illness.
Injured players who withdraw before the tournament — allowing someone who lost in qualifying to get into the draw — receive half the amount of first-round prize money.
Tomic was asked if he had any issues with his preparation for the match at Wimbledon.
“No,” he said. “Just played terrible.”
Results
Men’s singles (second round):
Sam Querrey, United States, def. Andrey Rublev, Russia, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3
John Millman, Australia, def. Laslo Djere (31), Serbia, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1
Daniel Evans, Britain, def. Nikoloz Basilashvili (18), Georgia, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6
Kei Nishikori (8), Japan, def. Cameron Norrie, Britain, 6-4, 6-4, 6-0
Steve Johnson, United States, def. Alex de Minaur (25), Australia, 3-6, 7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
Jan-Lennard Struff (33), Germany, def. Taylor Fritz, United States, 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6
Women’s singles (second round):
Ashleigh Barty (1), Australia, def. Alison van Uytvanck, Belgium, 6-1, 6-3
Harriet Dart, Britain, def. Beatriz Haddad Maia, Brazil, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-1
Alison Riske, United States, def. Ivana Jorovic, Serbia, 6-2, 6-7, 9-7
Carla Suarez-Navarro (30), Spain, def. Pauline Parmentier, France, 7-6, 7-6.
Barbora Strycova, Czech Republic, def. Laura Siegemund, Germany, 6-3, 7-5.
Elise Mertens (21), Belgium, def. Monica Niculescu, Romania, 7-5, 6-0.
Qiang Wang (15), China, def. Tamara Zidansek, Slovenia, 6-1, 6-2.
Sloane Stephens (9), United States, def. Yafan Wang, China, 6-0, 6-2.
Petra Kvitova (6), Czech Republic, def. Kristina Mladenovic, France, 7-5, 6-2
