Ashleigh Barty's preparations for the US Open have continued with a strong showing against Alison Van Uytvanck in the second round of the Canadian Open.
World No.16 Barty prevailed 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 over her Belgian opponent to set up a round of 16 clash with Alize Cornet, who was excited by the Montreal match-up with the 15th-seeded Australian.
"I love this player, I love the way she plays," Cornet told WTA.com about Barty.
"I mean, it's so beautiful to see her play."
Cornet beat Barty in straight sets in the opening round of the 2014 French Open - their only previous meeting.
However, she was glowing in her assessment of her next opponent's game.
"... She's not so tall, but she has such a big serve; I don't know how she does that," Cornet said.
"She's a different player ... I like this kind of player that shows different things on the court: going to the net, slicing on the backhand side.
"It's nice because I'm also a little bit this kind of player that does a lot of variation in my game."
Van Uytvanck spurned two set points in the opening set on Wednesday before Barty closed out a tense tiebreaker.
Boosted by that Barty broke the Belgian three times in the second set to close out the win in one hour and 22 minutes.
Frenchwoman Cornet stunned Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber 6-4 6-1 in a lopsided contest.
German fourth seed Kerber wilted in the sticky heat in her first match since winning her third grand slam title.
Top-seeded Simona Halep of Romania trailed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 4-3 when rain forced the suspension of play for the day while Johanna Konta led Victoria Azarenka 6-3 3-0.
Second-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki and American 13th seed Venus Williams didn't have the opportunity to begin their second-round matches.
US Open champion Sloane Stephens made light work of local hope Francoise Abanda in recording a 6-0 6-2 win.
Maria Sharapova continued her bid to climb back to the top of women's tennis with a 6-0 6-2 victory over 12th-seeded compatriot Daria Kasatkina.
Defending champion Elina Svitolina of Ukraine led Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 4-3 when the Romanian retired because of an ankle injury.
Others to progress to the last 16 were Elise Mertens, Anastasija Sevastova, Carla Suarez Navarro and Kiki Bertens.
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