Barty's funny message to waiting Federer

A sheepish Ash Barty felt the need to send Roger Federer an apologetic message after her second round win at the Australian Open.

Barty matched her previous best Australian Open performance after grinding out a tough second-round win over Italian Camila Giorgi on Thursday night.

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Barty, who made the third round last year, withstood the firepower of world No.71 Giorgi to earn a 5-7 6-4 6-1 victory on Rod Laver Arena.

The Australian No.1 next faces Japan's Naomi Osaka, who knocked out 16th seed Elena Vesnina.

The 18th seed provided a funny moment after the match when she apologised to Federer in her on-court interview.

Barty was hoping her three-set match hadn't left the Swiss legend wait too long, with Federer on court after her on Rod Laver Arena.

"I hope he still likes me," she said with a massive grin, glancing over to the tunnel where Federer was waiting.

Once he got on court the World No.2 certainly didn't appear to be bothered by the delay, producing a sensational round-the-net winner in the opening exchanges.

with AAP