Ashleigh Barty says she must be "as brave as possible" against Petra Kvitova in their Australian Open quarter-final on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old was practising on an outside court at Melbourne Park on Monday afternoon ahead of the biggest match of her career.
Great expectations: Ashleigh Barty.Credit:AAP
It is the first time Barty has made it to the last eight of a major – and the first time an Australian woman has reached this point of the tournament at the Australian Open in 10 years.
She takes on world No.6 Kvitova with a huge opportunity to go all the way to Saturday's final, with leading players on their side of the draw falling by the wayside on Sunday. Second seed Angelique Kerber was bundled out by American Danielle Collins and fifth seed Sloane Stephens lost to Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
It means the winner of Barty and Kvitova will play either Collins or Pavlyuchenkova – who are both unseeded – in a semi-final.
“I know that I have to go out there and try and be as brave as possible," Barty said on Monday.
"If I get my opportunities, they’ll be few and far between so I know I have to take them with both hands and try and really get stuck into her service games.”
Barty has faced Kvitova three times before and been unsuccessful on all three occasions. But in their most recent meeting, in the final of the Sydney International little more than a week ago, she was only beaten in a third-set tiebreak.
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