When not collecting doubles titles with Barbora Krejcikova, away from the court Katerina Siniakova likes few things better than to relax with a detective novel.

But in the third round of the singles at Wimbledon 2021, she found herself confounded by The Mystery of How To Defeat Ashleigh Barty.

This match became a compelling page-turner in its latter stages as Siniakova saved match point to prolong the second set. But even so the 6-3, 7-5 victory was the No.1 seed’s most convincing display of the Fortnight so far.

In an act of outrageous coincidence, it now falls to Krejcikova to solve the Barty puzzle in the fourth round. The Roland-Garros singles champions of 2021 and 2019 will meet to see which of them can reach the quarter-finals here for the first time.

“It was a hell of a match right from the first point,” said Barty. “Katerina brought an incredible level. I knew I had to play very near my best to be able to compete with her today so I’m happy to be able to play some good stuff. I’m very privileged to be in the second week of Wimbledon and it’ll be another great challenge. I’ve never played Barbora before, so it’s going to be a new one.”

As Barty walked out on to the Centre Court, did she dare think where her fortunes might lie exactly one week hence? Hers are considered the most likely hands to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish in seven days’ time.

This third round victory will have been exactly the boost she needed – or at least, as much of a boost as any player needs who has won their first two rounds.

On Tuesday she seemed to wrestle, understandably, with the emotional complexities of halting Carla Suarez Navarro on the Spaniard’s return after cancer. Then her defeat of Anna Blinkova featured a heap of 33 unforced errors and nine double faults, twice including successive misfires to seal a break for her opponent.

If Siniakova was hoping for more of the same, the world No.64 was destined for grave disappointment. The first seven points of the match flashed by before she could get on the scoreboard, although she sparred slice for slice with Barty to reverse a 0-40 deficit.

But in the third game, with the open court at Siniakova’s mercy to seal an important break, she fired the ball way out of town. It proved an expensive miss.

The two of them were testing one another, promising much for the unfolding contest. Siniakova was confident on her serve, having been broken just once in her opening two rounds. She was hitting deep – too deep on her weaker forehand side, giving an opportunity at 2-3, and Barty’s backhand slice was untouchable.

Runner-up in Bad Homburg in the build-up to this tournament, Siniakova remained inventive, making Barty work for it. But the Australian was equal to the task, to the delight of an agreeably noisy knot of her compatriots in the stands.

In the second set Barty was disrupting the Czech’s rhythm, much to Siniakova’s audible irritation. Piling on the pressure, Barty crafted points beautifully with ever-deeper strikes to force the break.

Siniakova gave vent to her frustration with a swipe of her racket, and umpire Miriam Bley delivered a warning in the belief the sacred greensward had been clouted. In fact Siniakova had carefully avoided the grass, making contact with her shoe instead. But her protests got her nowhere.

The match looked destined for a straightforward conclusion. Then, just as Barty served for the win at 5-4, she wobbled as Siniakova first saved match point and then levelled. But Barty would not be derailed, and minutes later victory was hers.

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