Roar Guru
Australian 17-year-old Ashleigh Barty faces a daunting task when she matches up against world number one Serena Williams on Rod Laver Arena tonight. Join us for live scores and commentary from 9.00pm AEDT.
Williams has a wealth of grand slam experience and has been dominant at the top of the women’s tennis pecking order, putting Barty at long odds to upset the five-time Australian open champion.
The hard hitting Williams has continued her good form in 2014 taking out the Brisbane International without dropping a single set and with wins over two of the top four players, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka.
The American is a likely to come out with all guns blazing against the Aussie teen to build momentum and bolster her chances of winning an 18th grand slam.
Barty is a newcomer on the WTA singles tour and will need to muster up all the courage she has to counter the dominant attack of the top seed.
Despite being 125 in the world the young talent was crowned junior Wimbledon champion last year and reached three of the four major doubles finals with her partner, Casey Dellacqua.
Barty will be relishing the chance to compete against one of the games greats and her Round 1 match will give her an opportunity to figure out what it takes to make it to the top.
The young Australian will have the whole crowd by her side but it’s hard to go past the class and power of Williams on this one.
Williams in straight sets.