Petra Kvitova has crushed Ashleigh Barty’s Australian Open title dream with a ruthless quarter-final defeat of the great home hope.

The dual Wimbledon champion put paid to Barty’s hopes of ending Australia’s 41-year singles title drought in Melbourne with a 6-1 6-4 victory on Tuesday night.

Unbeaten in 2019, the sixth-ranked Kvitova will play unseeded American Danielle Collins in the semi-finals on Thursday.