Rod Laver cheers Barty on at Roland Garros

Ashleigh Barty has a lot of fans on her side, including one living legend: Rod Laver. The Australian posted a special message to his 23-year-old compatriot ahead of her fourth-round Roland Garros match with Sofia Kenin.

Barty would take care of business to beat the 20-year-old American, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0. It was Barty's first dropped set of the fortnight.

Laver also did a press conference on Monday, and spoke of the world No. 8.

"Well, Ash Barty, it's amazing what she has accomplished here," he said. "I know she won a tournament not too far back where I think it was one of the top players, and I didn't see the match, but when I read that she finished off the match with three aces, and, you know, she's 5-foot-nothing. I said, Well, that has to be a misprint. How did she do that?"

That tournament Laver is talking about was Miami, where Barty took out Kiki Bertens, Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova.

"So, you know, her improvement, and I think it's more confidence than anything else," Laver said. "Most players with inferior games, but with confidence, you can make anything happen."

It's Barty's second career Grand Slam quarterfinal, and second of 2019. Her opponent on Monday had only great things to say about her as well.

"I mean, her serve is really good. I mean, she does everything well," Kenin said. "She moves really well. Her slices, you know, there's not many girls on tour with a really good slice."

Barty faces Madison Keys for a spot in the semifinals. She's also still in the doubles draw with Victoria Azarenka.

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