Double trouble but Barty motors on
A below-par Ash Barty has overcome "double trouble" with her serves before progressing into the last-32 on Wimbledon's Centre Court with a strangely uneven 6-4 6-3 win over tough young Russian Anna Blinkova.
The top seed produced a second-round performance littered with errors on Thursday but, despite not looking at her commanding best, still ultimately had far too much game for her 22-year-old opponent, beating the world No.89 in an hour and a half.
There was much for Barty to work on, though, as she served nine double faults en route to finally nailing down a third round place against Czech Katerina Siniakova.
Barty had finished her emotional opening match against cancer survivor Carla Suarez Navarro with a flourish on a covered Centre Court and with the sun coming out on the best day yet at the Championship, she was expected to really shine in the open air.
In the opening set, the world No.1 struggled to find any rhythm with her groundstrokes and suffering from double fault trouble as she delivered three of them in her opening service game.
There were moments of familiar brilliance from the top seed, including a couple of exquisite drop shot winners.
But her slice was hit-and-miss and against the energetic and confident Muscovite, five double faults in a set where she was broken twice was a recipe for trouble.
She eventually earned a key third break in the ninth game before serving out to love, clenching her fist when she sealed the stanza.
It looked as if she had found a release when she raced into a 2-0 lead in the second but again she started double-faulting, allowing Blinkova to fight back.
Even when Barty broke crucially for a 4-3 lead in the second set, she then had to repel four break points in the next game from an opponent who never looked overawed.
