WTA Sydney: Ashleigh Barty downs world no. 1 Simona Halep in straight sets

On the other hand, confident and motivated Ashleigh landed 26 winners and 39 unforced errors, controlling the pace and securing the win in straight sets for the place in the last eight. Both players served above 70% and it was Halep who defended her second serve in a more efficient way to save three out of seven break points and give Barty a chance to confirm that lead with solid serving.

The 22-year-old struggled after missing the first but she did enough to prevail as the winner, fending off nine out of 11 break points she faced to seal the deal and celebrate a huge triumph after believing in herself all the time, even when she was a break down in set number two.

Barty earned the first break with some good mixture of flat shots and slices but Simona got it back with a volley winner in the following game, reducing the deficit and creating three break points at 4-4 that could have changed the entire course of the match.

She failed to deliver that one last shot, though, with Ashleigh saving them all before hitting an ace that pushed her 5-4 up. Serving to stay in the set at 4-5, Simona netted an easy forehand to suffer a break and hand the opener to her rival after 41 minutes, having a lot of work to be done in the rest of the encounter if she wanted to cross the finish line first.

They both had chances to grab a break in set number two but the result followed the serve until 3-3 when Bary netted a forehand to give the serve away, pulling it back in the very next game with a halfvolley winner that gave her a lot of confidence.

Serving at 4-4, the home star fends off a couple of break chances, bringing the game home after forcing an error from the Romanian who was on the verge of defeat now. Halep had to win the 10th game to extend the match but she wasted a game point before she sprayed a backhand error to suffer a break and send the youngster into the last eight where she will face Anett Kontaveit or Elise Mertens.

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