Serena Williams and Ash Barty have responded to Sam Groth's scathing criticism of Williams after both progressed to the third round at Wimbledon.
Williams fought back from a set down to defeat Slovenia's Kaja Juvan 2-6 6-2 6-4 after the Aussie crushed Alison Van Uytvanck 6-1 6-3 in just underan hour.
The pair were then both asked for their thoughts on the ongoing controversy surrounding Williams perceived lack of respect for the French Open champion.
Retired Australian star Groth wrote an article for the Herald Sun saying it was an "absolute disgrace" Williams didn't know Barty was the world No. 1 until she was told as much by reporters during a pre-Wimbledon press conference on the weekend.
"I don't even know what he's talking about," said Williams, of Groth. "I'm happy she's No. 1. I don't know anyone that isn't.
Barty was strutting her stuff on Court No. 2 rather than Centre Court today after Wimbledon organisers overlooked her for a spot on the main stage — despite Barty being the top seed and No. 1 ranked player in the world. Her snubbing was a major talking point when it was announced yesterday but the Queenslander wasn't fussed, giving a classy response to something that may have rankled other players.
"If I got to play on Centre Court it would be incredible, it really would. It's one of the most beautiful courts in the world," she said.
"But I'll play wherever I'm scheduled. There's not a bad court here at Wimbledon. They're all very special in their own right, they're all very beautiful and I certainly enjoyed playing on Court 2 today.
"It was really nice to hear some Aussies out there and to get some support, it was incredible."
Serena Williams and Ashleigh Barty after their match at last year's French Open. Photo / Getty
Barty started with a bang against Van Uytvanck and never relented, racing out to a 5-0 lead in the first set. The Belgian finally got on the board when she held serve next game but any hopes she had of launching a miracle comeback were pure fantasy as Barty served out the opener in just 25 minutes.
It was more of the same in the second set from Australia's newest golden girl as she kept her foot on the throat before her Belgian opponent gave herself a sniff just when it looked like the match was all but over.
Up 5-2 in the second, Barty was serving for the match but stumbled slightly when, facing break point, she hit an attempted inside-out forehand winner wide. Van Uytvanck had a chance to keep herself in the contest but a couple of bungled volleys cost her dearly and Barty broke straight back to keep her dream of winning Wimbledon alive.
"Really clean match, the only blemish was at the end, trying to serve it out," Barty said.
"I knew I had to have my running shoes on today. Happy with the way everything went."
It was slightly odd to see the world's best player playing on an outside stadium court rather than at the heart of the action, and being one of the first matches of the day didn't help either. There were plenty of empty seats in the stands of the ticketed court, with many fans still streaming through the Wimbledon entry points while her match was in progress.
Play kicks off at 11am local time at the All England Club and many ticket-holders don't make it to the precinct bang on time. When the first serve went down in Barty's clash, it looked like there were almost as many empty seats as occupied ones and while the crowd swelled in size as the contest wore on, the stadium was never completely full.
It was understandable that early in the day, especially when fans with regular ground passes weren't allowed into the stadium, but it's hard to imagine Roger Federer or Serena Williams — when they were world No. 1 — ever playing in the second round at Wimbledon not in front of a packed house.
Barty extended her unbeaten streak to 14 matches with victory over Van Uytvanck and next plays British wildcard Harriet Dart on Saturday with a huge opportunity to embark on another deep grand slam run.
Two matches into her campaign and the French Open champion's draw is already opening up like it did in Paris. The shock first-round exits of 2017 Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza and world No. 22 Donna Vekic have left Barty with a seed-free passage through to at least the second week.
Swiss 13th seed Belinda Bencic looms as Barty's highest-ranked possible last-16 opponent before a potential heavyweight quarter-final showdown with either seven-time champion Serena Williams or German title-holder Angelique Kerber.
All the talk after last Friday's draw was of Barty's quarter from hell featuring four former world No. 1s and four former All England Club champions, among a total of seven major winners in her section.
But four grand slam champions from Barty's pocket — Muguruza, Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and fellow Australian Samantha Stosur — have already bombed out.
NOTABLE WOMEN'S RESULTS
Johanna Konta bt Katerina Siniakova 6-3 6-4, Petra Kvitova bt Kristina Mladenovic 7-5 6-2, Serena Williams bt Kaja Juvan 2-6 6-2 6-4, Laura Davis bt Angelique Kerber 2-6 6-2 6-1, Sloane Stephens bt Yafan Wang 6-0 6-2
