"She kind of plays more like a guy, a different kind of style that we're not used to"- Jessica Pegula on Ashleigh Barty
Jessica Pegula feels World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty plays a brand of tennis most female players are not accustomed to. According to the American, most players on the WTA tour struggle to find an answer to Barty's variety.
The World No. 1 has been dominant at the Australian Open so far, advancing to the semifinals without dropping a set. She is the firm favorite to go all the way and lift her third Grand Slam trophy.
Speaking after her 6-2, 6-0 loss to Barty in the quarterfinals, Pegula heaped praise on the Australian, saying her style of play is similar to a lot of male players.
"I think she just does everything really well, little bit better than everybody," Pegula said. "Just for like women's tennis, she kind of plays more like a guy, maybe a different kind of style that we're not used to playing day in and day out. So it's really hard to come from someone that hits the ball really hard to someone that's giving you all these different shots that you don't normally see.
"So if you're not really playing that all the time, it's really hard to go out and kind of play that way with her and figure it out. And just for her size, the fact that she serves so well I think is a big difference. I just think her intangibles, like her defensive play -- I think her defense and her serve are probably her best kind of assets," the American added.
According to Pegula, Barty has such immense confidence in her own game that she feels she can go out and "chop anybody up."
"I think definitely she figured it out a little bit mentally and physically with her game where she kind of has the confidence right now where she I think feels like she can go out there and kind of chop anybody up when she's playing really well," the American said.
"Just to do it two out of three sets for somebody to beat her is tough because she just makes you play so much and does everything so well. Yeah, I think she's definitely living in everyone's head a little bit. I don't think anyone is going to feel great going out to play her because they know they have to play really well."
Shifting her focus to her own run at the Australian Open, Pegula said she was happy with the way she has performed over the last fortnight.
"I'm really proud of myself to be able to back up a quarterfinal, my first quarterfinal, and to back that up is pretty special for me, a milestone for me and a really awesome thing," she said.
"So I don't want to take away from what happened tonight because of that. It wasn't my goal to back it up, but I'm really happy that I was able to and get a really good win the last match and kind of play my way into this tournament. I definitely feel much better about my game now than I did at the start of the year."
Barty vs Keys will be a great semi to watch
Ashleigh Barty will take on another American in the shape of Madison Keys in the semifinals. Keys reached the last four of the Australian Open for the second time in her career by seeing off fourth seed Barbora Krejcikova in the quarterfinals.
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Pegula feels her fellow countrywoman is capable of giving Barty a tough fight in the last four.
"I think Madison will play her pretty close. I think their game matches up a little bit differently. Ash obviously can beat anybody but so can Maddie. I think if Maddie is serving really well, really using her kick serve and looking for her forehands, that's something I -- I'm not as tall or my serve isn't as big of a weapon for me as it is for Maddie," Pegula said.
"I think if she can do those two things she can really make it a tougher match. So I think that matchup will be interesting. I mean, Maddie is playing really well, but again, so is Ash. I think it's going to be a really great semi," she added.
Barty and Keys have faced each other three times before, with the former leading the head-to-head 2-1. The winner of the match will take on either Danielle Collins or Iga Swiatek in the final of the Australian Open.