Australian Open 2019: Why Ashleigh Barty is one to watch on the court today

Today, Australia's Ashleigh Barty will be kicking off the Australian Open in a singles match against Thailand's Luksika Kumkhum.

Barty, a 22-year-old Ipswich native, is currently ranked 15^th in the world and – no pressure! – pretty much holds Australia's hopes for winning the women's Open single's title on her shoulders.

After her unexpected loss to Petra Kvitova in the Sydney International final on Saturday, we bet she’ll come back fighting harder than before.

On Wednesday, Barty had shocked fans by beating world number one Simona Halep in a 6-4 6-4 game – a move that pleased commentators, who are regularly comparing the athlete to her idol Evonne Goolagong Cawley.

Speaking to Nine's Wide World of Sports, Barty said, "I think we’re all just trying to emulate what legends before have done - done for us, done for the sport - and I think from my point of view it’s to emulate Evonne as much as possible.

"Evonne’s been such an amazing ambassador for tennis in general, and for indigenous tennis, and paving the way for everyone to follow, so I’m doing the best I can to do that. But I think Australian tennis in general is heading to a very good place."

Barty, a proud Indigenous woman herself, is the National Indigenous Tennis Ambassador for Tennis Australia.

Better still, her career has been dubbed a "second coming" due to the short break she took to join Australia's cricket team in late 2014-2016.

Ashleigh Barty's first match of the Open, and the ones she competes in afterwards, are not to be missed.