French Open champion Ashleigh Barty from Australia defeated Venus Williams 6-4, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the Birmingham Classic. Barty will move to the top ahead of Naomi Osaka. By this, she will extend her winning streak to 10 matches against the five-time Wimbledon champion. If in case she loses the Birmingham final, she will be just two behinds Osaka-6377 to 6375, on the other hand, Barty's victory will lead her to 6540 points. Meanwhile, let us have a look at Barty's defensive stroke which resembles a cricketing shot. She played this perfect forward defence against Williams in the quarter-final of Birmingham Classic, 2019. Ashleigh Barty Beats Marketa Vondrousova in French Open 2019 Final, Ends Australia's 46-Year Wait for Roland Garros Title.

In Barty's previous match against Venus Williams, 39 years old Williams had a better start with the 4-1 first set lead. Barty responded in style by romping through the next five games to take the set. The Australian tennis star break points in her opening service game of the second set against Williams, and later on bought the game under her control to set up a meeting with Barbara Strycova in Saturday’s semi-finals. Ashleigh Barty, who is also a former cricketer tried out some cricketing shot on the tennis court.

Ashleigh Barty Playing Defensive Stroke!!!

The 23 years old Ashleigh Barty started playing tennis at the age of four years old near Brisbane. Barty has won five singles titles and ten doubles titles on the WTA Tour, this includes one Grand Slam singles title at the 2019 French Open and the doubles title at the 2018 US Open with partner CoCo Vandeweghe. Barty also played for Big Bash League in Australia although for a short time.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 22, 2019 03:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).