'It's all good': Ash Barty's brilliant response to 'terrible' question

It wasn't exactly the ideal start for Ash Barty at the Australian Open.

Not that the local hope was giving off any signs of nervous relief after surviving a first round scare against Lesia Tsurenko.

Barty booked her passage into the second round of the year's first grand slam courtesy of a come-from-behind three set win.

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After dropping the first set, however, Australians feared the World No.1 would complete a dreadful opening day for the host country in which no other Aussie player tasted victory.

To the nation's delight, Barty rediscovered her mojo to round out an emphatic 5-7 6-1 6-1 victory.

When asked by tennis commentator Sam Smith about giving fans "a terrible scare" in the first set, Barty gave the home faithful a chuckle with a brilliantly Aussie response.

"Nah it's all good," Barty ensured Smith as the laughter rang out on Rod Laver Arena.

It was really nice to sort it out a little bit more in the second set, sharpen up and do what I needed to.

Barty, who has a habit of being a slow starter in matches, said she always had confidence in turning her opening setback around.

“I think in the first set it was still in my control. It was just a little bit of execution. I was just rushing a little bit, trying to finish off points too early.

“Once I was able to get my physicality into it, I felt a lot more comfortable.

The 23-year-old, who is bidding for her first title at Melbourne Park, was the only Australian to book a victory in a rain-interrupted day one.

"I think I was pressing a little bit early and I made a few too many errors but I was able to tighten the screws in the second set and run away with it."

Tsurenko put up a strong challenge given she'd hardly played in the past year due to an elbow injury, which saw her ranking slump from a career-high world No.23 to 120.

The pair traded multiple breaks through the first set although Barty only showed her frustration once, remonstrating with her box as Tsurenko served to wrap it up.

"I was frustrated that I wasn't hitting the ball in the court when I wanted to," Barty said.

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"I think I was aiming for big targets and missing by quite a bit, which I wasn't comfortable with, so being able to kind of rectify that and fix that so quickly at the start of the second set was really important."

Barty's fightback has become a trademark, last year racking up an unrivalled 13 victories from a set down en route to her No.1 status and French Open crown.

"Knowing that I've come back from being a set down in many matches is good, although I'd prefer not to be in that situation," Barty said.

Playing in her first home major as the world's top ranked player, Barty felt she was handling the extra attention and pressure well.

Her previous best performance at the Open came last year when she made the quarter-finals.

"(Grand) slams always feel like there's a lot of chaos going because there's so many people," she said.

"When you're able to separate that from when you step on the court is when you can do a little bit better, play a little bit better, feel a little bit more comfortable.

"I feel like we've been able to do that better and better with each slam that I've played - I feel like I'm doing it the best way that I know how.

"It's an experience thing. You have to learn how to deal with it, but it's getting better."

With AAP