London, Jul 7 (IANS): World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty of Australia said after her win over compatriot Ajla Tomljanovic in the Wimbledon quarterfinals that she was living a dream and that she was extremely fortunate to be getting to do "what I dreamt as a kid".
Ashleigh, who will be leading the Australian tennis contingent to the Olympics, needed just 66 minutes to get past Ajla as the 2019 Roland Garros champion moved into her third Grand Slam semifinal, and first here on Tuesday evening.
"This is my dream. I'm in an extremely fortunate position that I'm getting to do what I love, getting to do what I dreamt as a kid. So I think I've just got a whole lot of gratitude for the fact that I get to come out here and do what I love," Ashleigh told wtatennis.com.
It was the first all-Australian Grand Slam quarterfinal since Evonne Goolagong Cawley defeated Wendy Turnbull at Wimbledon 1980, and Barty became the first Australian semifinalist at Wimbledon since Jelena Dokic in 2000.
The result also extended Barty's winning streak against her compatriots to six. She has not been defeated by a fellow Australian since falling to Daria Gavrilova in the 2017 Strasbourg quarterfinals.
From 0-1 down, Ashleigh won six games on the trot for the loss of just seven points to take the first set.
"Obviously it was something that I wanted to do is to start well. But also not making a massive, massive emphasis on the start, allowing myself to not panic if things didn't start overly well. It was just working my way in, like we always do, not putting any more emphasis on any point or any situation. It just kind of is what it is. Each and every one, I just wanted to try and play as I could with as much clarity and freedom as I could," said Ashleigh who will meet Germany's Angelique Kerber in the semifinal.
"Angie obviously has an incredible record here. She's made multiple finals. She's one of the best grass courters going around. I think the challenge of playing her in a semifinal of Wimbledon is an incredible opportunity, one that I'm really excited for."
"It's exciting to have the challenge of playing someone who is comfortable on these courts, who knows how to win this tournament," Asheigh added.