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Ashleigh Barty is edging closer towards a first grand slam success after reaching the semi-finals of the French Open with a straight-sets rout of Madison Keys.
Ashleigh Barty has a golden chance to become the first Australian grand slam champion in eight years after powering her way into the French Open semi-finals.
Barty hailed her 6-4 7-5 quarter-final win over 2017 US Open runner-up Madison Keys as one of the best of her career as she set up a last-four crash with unseeded American teenager Amanda Anisimova on Friday.
The 23-year-old Barty brushed aside the world No.16 in just over an hour in a reschuled match following Wednesday's wash-out in Paris and believes she is playing at the peak of her powers.
"That's probably close to my best match that I have played ... on the clay," Barty said.
"It was a really clean match. I felt like I was in control. I got the balls I wanted, and I was able to put the balls in difficult positions for Maddie.
"I'm really, really happy with how we went about it."
The world No.8 is the highest-ranked player left in the women's draw with 26th-seeded Sydney-born Brit Johanna Konta taking on unseeded Czech Marketa Vondrousova in Friday's other semi-final.
In her five previous visits, Barty had never progressed past the second round at Roland Garros, but controlled her quarter-final throughout.
Her sliced backhand returns caused all sorts of problems for the big-serving Keys, who made 26 unforced errors as she struggled to make any impact on Barty's serve.
"I felt like I had a better mix of slice and topspin, (compared) to my other matches," Barty said.
"My other matches I have been a little slice-heavy. It was important today to try to mix that up a little bit more.
"But obviously it's a shot that I love to use as much as I can to my advantage. If I put it in the right positions,
"I know it's tough for my opponents to go anywhere but back to that spot.
"I served very well today to allow myself to be in control of a lot of the points."
Barty would need to win three matches in as many days to become the first Australian to reach the final in Paris since Samantha Stosur nine years ago.
Despite the draw opening up in a dream-like fashion, the Queenslander played down the importance of her new status as tournament favourite.
"It's opened up in a seeding regard, but the other three girls in the semi-finals are playing incredible tennis," the 23-year-old said.
"Even though it's a first time for a few of us, and Jo has obviously had some exposure to semi-finals before, you can't take absolutely anything away from them.
"They have played amazing tennis. Even though they don't have a seeding next to their name necessarily doesn't mean they're any less of a player."
"It's an opportunity for all four of us to go out there and try and continue that."
Regardless of Friday's result, Barty is assured of reaching fourth in the world rankings, matching Stosur's career-best ranking.
She will rise to No.2 if she becomes the first Australian to lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen since Margaret Court in 1973.
If Barty ultimately succeeds on Saturday, she would be the highest-ranked Australian women's player since Wendy Turnbull, who climbed to third in 1985.
