Updated March 23, 2017 11:03:18

Photo: Ash Barty reaches for a backhand against Eugenie Bouchard at the Miami Open. (Reuters: Geoff Burke)

Ash Barty will meet fellow Australian Samantha Stosur in the Miami Open second round after stretching her winning streak to eight matches by beating former world number five Eugenie Bouchard.

Barty, who returned to tennis early last year following a stint playing cricket in the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL), defeated Bouchard 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 on centre court, continuing the rich form that earned her a first WTA Tour title at the Malaysian Open earlier this month.

"I think I was able to be very aggressive on returns and use my forehand," said Barty, who was awarded a wildcard to play at the prestigious Miami tournament.

"It came with a few errors as well but I knew I needed to be aggressive to give myself a chance and I think I did that today."

Barty, 20, took a break from the WTA Tour for about 18 months, a period in which she played for Brisbane Heat in the 2015/16 WBBL season.

She has a career-high ranking of 91 on the back of her Malaysian Open triumph and a third-round appearance at the Australian Open.

Barty is looking forward to the clash with 2011 US Open champion Stosur, who has slipped to number 19 in the world following patchy poor form this year.

Stosur was given a first-round bye in Miami courtesy of being seeded 14.

"It'll be nice to play Sam. We've practiced a lot together in the past but never played against each other," Barty said.

"It's very similar. I'm going to have to be very aggressive off returns and try and take her serve away from her, then I think it might be a little bit of a battle of the forehands from us."

Canadian Bouchard reached number five in 2014, the year in which she was the runner-up at Wimbledon and reached the semi-finals at two other majors.

But her recent form has gone in the opposite direction to Barty's and she exited in the first round for a fourth straight tournament.

The revival of Barty's career has been one of the more positive stories in Australian tennis during the past 12 months.

She announced her intention to return to tennis in February last year and appeared at the Eastbourne grass court event in May where she advanced to the semi-finals of the main draw after going through qualifying.

Barty finished 2016 ranked 325 in the world but has improved on that ranking following her bright start to this season, which also included reaching the round of 16 at the Brisbane International.

In aother Australian result in Miami, Jordan Thompson lost 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 to Yoshihito Nishioka in the opening round of the men's draw.

AAP/ABC

Topics: tennis, sport, united-states

First posted March 23, 2017 10:50:37