Australia’s world no. 1 Ash Barty faced Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the WTA Finals final. The winner would walk away with the largest winner’s purse in tennis history.

Barty opened the serving and dropped just three points on serve over the opening three games against Svitolina the defending champion.

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Ukraine’s Svitolina went into the final unbeaten and also held a 4-0 head-to-head record against the Australian world no. 1.

Both players were holding serve with ease and no player face deuce until Barty in the ninth game after she hit an unforced error into the net.

The first break opportunity came on the next point when Svitolina hit a winner. She could not convert as she hit wide. Barty brought up Ad with a great down the line passing shot.

Another Barty unforced error saw her go back to deuce. A few points later Barty was able to escape from that game to lead 5-4.

In the tenth game Svitolina opened with two unforced errors to fall behind 0-30. Barty eased the pressure when she missed badly on a second serve forehand return, then another unforced error got it to 30-30.

Barty earned her first break point when she hit a forehand winner from mid-court. It was also a set point for the Australian but she pushed a forehand wide to waste that opportunity. A well hit forehand which forced Svitolina to lob saw Barty smash a winner to earn a second set point.

Barty made a move to the net looking to claim the set but Svitolina handled the pressure and slotted a passing shot down the line.

A kind net cord for Barty saw the ball trickle over to bring up a third set point. Svitolina presented Barty a short second serve that Barty stepped into and hit a forehand winner to take the first set 6-4.

Barty held easily to open the second set before putting pressure on Svitolina’s serve in the second game but the Ukrainian escaped the game to see the score at 1-1.

Barty sliced long to fall to 15-30 in the third game of the set. A repeat of an unforced slice error, that this time went into the net gave Svitolina two break points. A double-fault handed the game to her opponent.

After Barty hit a drop shot to bring Svitolina to the net and then hit a second shot down the line that just caught the edge of the line the Australian was at 30-30.

A forehand winner gave her a break-back-point which she converted after great court coverage that was sealed by a smash winner.

Barty held to love to move to 3-2.

Svitolina called her coach to the sideline after that game.

A shot that was called in on the sideline was challenged by Barty and was shown to be out for Barty to move to 0-15 in the sixth game.

An unforced error from Barty and then a winner from Svitolina as she attacked the net saw the defending champion at 30-15 before she hit wide to have the score at 30-30.

A break point was for Barty after Svitolina hit a forehand into the net. As Barty had done earlier in the set it was a double fault by Svitolina that handed the break to her opponent. Barty was now ahead 4-2.

Some amazing court coverage by Barty on the third point saw her move to 30-15 but then a backhand into the net have Svitolina some hope. A double-fault served up a break-back-point to the Ukrainian. With the court open down the line Barty pushed her shot wide to let Svitolina back into the match.

The seventh game showed how quickly momentum could change. Barty looked set to move to 5-2 however a few errors and it was back on serve at 3-4 with Svitolina serving.

The players traded winners to open the eighth game. Another winner from Barty gave her 15-30. Barty was toying with Svitolina on the next point and she worked her way to the net to volley for 15-40.

The net cord this time favoured Svitolina as a Barty shot hit the net cord and then fell back on the Australian’s side. An unforced error then a forced error saw Svitolina move to Ad.

Svitolina hit a backhand into the net to see the score at deuce. Barty looked to be in control of the next point before a good lob from Svitolina saw her push Barty to the baseline before the Australian made an error.

Barty had Svitolina on the run before forcing an error from the Ukrainian for another break point. A backhand that went wide from Svitolina saw Barty move to 5-3 and with the opportunity to serve for the Billy Jean King trophy.

Svitolina was again off target as she hit wide to give Barty the first point. A backhand wide to the other sideline saw Barty two point from victory. Barty pushed Svitolina deep and it was championship point for Barty.

The title was hers after Svitolina hit a forehand into the net. The final score was 6-4, 6-3 after 1 hour 26 minutes.

Barty’s winning check of $4.42 million is the biggest ever in professional tennis.

This capped off an amazing year for Barty on the WTA tour but there is one more goal for the Australian as she will fly to Perth to lead Australia in the Fed Cup final against France.

France’s Kristina Mladenovic teamed up with Timea Babos to defend their doubles title. They defeated Hsieh Su-Wei and Barbora Strycova 6-1, 6-3.

Mladenovic will be facing Barty in Perth as part of the French team.

At the start of the year Robicia tennis shared a cruise on Sydney Harbour with Barty and several other players including then no. 1 Simona Halep.

Barty spoke about having all four of her wisdom teeth pulled out at the start of the off season, and about her four dogs who are “energetic and a good use for four extra pillows when you need them.” Barty also shared that her ultimate goal for the year is to get in the top 10, and she also wants to go deeper in the grand slams.

The likeable Australian exceeded all expectations in 2019.
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World no. 1 Ash Barty has come back from a set down to defeat world no. 2 Karolina Pliskova and advance to the final where she will face the defending champion Elina Svitolina.

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The score was 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 with the match lasting 1 hour and 53 minutes.

Pliskova had eight break point opportunities in the first set and claimed one to give her the early advantage.

After dropping the first set the Australian had a chat with her coach and made some adjustments to her game. They paid off as she broke her Czech opponent twice in the second set.

It was Barty again that got the first break in the deciding set and that was enough to see her complete the win to advance to the final for the first time.

Barty hit 11 Aces and 36 winners to 23 for Pliskova. The unforced errors were 26 from Barty and 30 from Pliskova.

It was Barty’s movement around the court that helped her get the win.

After two tough losses to start the year against Petra Kvitova, Australia’s Ash Barty has recorded her third straight win over the Czech.
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This win came in a Red Group match to decide who would advance to the semifinals of the WTA finals in Shenzhen. Barty defeated Kvitova 6-4, 6-2.

Kvitova had defeated Barty in the Sydney International final and then at the Australian Open in the quarterfinals.

Barty secured top spot after the win.

The Australian served much better than during her previous match where she lost to Kiki Bertens. Barty was also cool under pressure and secured a break of serve in the fifth game of the first set.

Barty raced away with the match in the second set before securing the victory.

Belinda Bencic won her match after Bertens conceded the match at 1-0 in the second set. That win took the Swiss player into the semis.

Kiki Bertens has stepped in as an alternate to take the place of Naomi Osaka and face off against world no. 1 Ash Barty.

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Barty was in control in the first set and was twice up a break in the second set. Bertens however would not go away. She changed tactics and was often seen rushing the net.

A more aggressive game plan paid off and it was Bertens that took the match 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Osaka had injured her shoulder a few weeks ago in Beijing and thought after rest it would recover however after a tough match against Petra Kvitova she decided it was not up to playing another match.

Barty serving at 48% wasn’t good enough to fight off Bertens who served at 56%.

The winners favoured Bertens with 30 to 25 and the unforced errors were close with Bertens making 43 to Barty’s 41.

Red group is now wide open with all four players able to advance although if Bencic loses tonight she will be eliminated.

Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic was two points away from being sent packing in the first round of the China Open in Beijing, but her opponent, Chinese no. 1 Qiang Wang couldn’t finish the match due to heat cramping. Tomljanovic advanced to the second round, 5-7, 4-5 (ret.).

The match could have been over a lot sooner, with Wang storming out to a 5-1 lead, and serving for the first set, but the Australian found her form and fought back to level the score at 5 all. It still wasn’t enough for Tomljanovic, as Wang quickly finished up the last two games to win the first set.

Once again the Chinese dominated to lead 4-0, but Tomljanovic fought back again to 4 all as Wang began to suffer cramps in her right leg. She managed to hold on for one more game to lead again at 5-4, but with just two points from the second round, the pain became too much for Wang, and she couldn’t continue. She tried to stretch out her leg, with the Australian running over to help her, however, it did her no favour as her other leg began to cramp also. Wang was wheeled off court in a wheel chair with the Beijing crowd watching on in despair, having also just witnessed Chinese no. 2 Shuai Zhang lose a thriller to Angelique Kerber in the previous match.

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Photo: BEIJING, CHINA – SEPTEMBER 29: Qiang Wang of China gets injured while Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia tries to help during the women’s singles first round match of 2019 China Open at the China National Tennis Center on September 29, 2019 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Xinyu Cui/Getty Images)

Tomljanovic will face American Alison Riske in the second round.

Australia’s Ash Barty has lost to Russian wildcard Svetlana Kuznetsova. The former US and French Open champion winning the match 6-2, 6-4.

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Kuznetsova was down 2-0 and stormed back to win six straight games to claim the first set.
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If Barty reached the final she would have returned to no. 1. As it is Naomi Osaka will hold onto the top spot.

Barty had a poor serving performance, serving at just 51% compared with 73% from her opponent.

USA’s Sofia Kenin has defeated world no. 1 Ash Barty in a round two match at the Rogers Cup in Toronto. The world no. 29 coming from behind to take the match 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4.

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Kenin and simply was too good for Barty.

Kenin said, “I think today I wasn’t able to adapt quickly enough or well enough to play a match of the standard that I expect myself to play and I want myself to play. Sofia served today in the big moments. She served particularly well and got a lot of free points.

“I think these are courts where you need to be aggressive. You need to be confident and trust yourself and really hit through the ball, and today I didn’t have quite enough of that. And against a player like Sofia, who hits the ball so cleanly and so aggressive and takes it so early, that’s something you need.

“It wasn’t there today, but she played an exceptional match when she needed to, and in the big moments she played some really good stuff.”

Following the loss Barty’s world no. 1 ranking is at risk. The most recent world no. 1 Naomi Osaka just needs to defeat German qualifier Tatjana Maria in their round two match to retake the no. 1 ranking.

Depending on results, Karolina Pliskova could also take the no. 1 ranking.

Karolina Pliskova has shown just how well she can play on grass, defeating defending Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-4 to claim her second Eastbourne title.
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The first came two years ago where she would go onto Wimbledon and lose in the second round to Magdalena Rybarikova the world no. 87 at the time.

Despite the early exit, Pliskova would rise to no. 1 after Wimbledon.

This time heading into Wimbledon after winning the Eastbourne title, Pliskova is confident she will go further this year. The current world no. 3 has the 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez as her coach.

Could this be the edge she needs to go all the way and claim her first Grand Slam title.

Against Kerber the Czech player was in superb form. She was blasting winners and serving well to never let Kerber into the match.

Just two days earlier it was Kerber that was looking in great form as she defeated Simona Halep.

Pliskova opens her Wimbledon campaign on Monday against China’s Zhu Lin the world no. 101.

Kerber opens her title defence on Tuesday against fellow German and world no. 65 Tatjana Maria.

Defending Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber has not had the best of seasons in 2019.

She did show some good form at Indian Wells, losing in the final.

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It has not been a stellar season for the world no. 5 as injury and illness has kept her off the court over recent times.

The German reached the semifinals in Mallorca last week as she started her grass court campaign where her aim is to hold on to her Wimbledon title.

In a round three match against another former world no. 1 and a fellow top-ten player Kerber came out firing against Simona Halep.

Kerber raced to an early lead as she broke Halep twice to be serving at 4-1. Halep was able to break back thanks to a few unforced errors from Kerber, but Kerber would hold on to take the first set 6-4.

As she had done in the first set, Kerber broke twice early to lead 3-0, again Halep broke back before Kerber settled and she raced to win the match 6-4, 6-3.

Kerber was playing near the peak of her game, hitting with more power and intensity than we have seen from her over recent months. Some of her down the line winners were vintage Kerber.

Next for Kerber is the unseeded Ons Jabeur from Tunisia.

Kerber aslo hit the shot of the day with this winner from out wide.

Australia’s Ashleigh Barty has defeated Germany’s Julia Goerges 6-3, 7-5 to win the Birmingham Premier title. The win also secures the world no. 1 ranking when the rankings are updated on Monday, June 24.
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Barty becomes the 27th women to reach the top ranking and second Australian. She follows Evonne Goolagong Cawley who held the no. 1 ranking for two weeks back in 1976.

“It’s a dream come true to be the World No.1,” said Barty. “My team and I have put in so much work and I’m very proud of what we have achieved.

“It’s an honour to be in this position, which has been held by the legends of our sport who I respect and admire greatly.”

Barty also becomes the first women to claim three WTA singles titles in 2019 after winning in Miami and at the French Open. Her win streak also extends to 12.

“Ash and I have been together from day one of her tennis comeback and I have loved every minute of our partnership – the successful moments, the challenges and everything in between,” said Craig Tyzzer, coach of Ashleigh Barty.

“Over the last three years, Ash has grown as a person and as a player. What has stayed constant is her genuine, humble and respectful nature.

“She is a truly impressive person and deserves every success that comes her way. I couldn’t be prouder to be her coach.”
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Barty broke Goerges once in the first set to take the opening set.

Goerges broke early in the second set to jump out to a 3-0 lead.

Barty slowly worked her way back into the set, breaking back, but she then had to fight off a few break points against her serve.

The Australian got the key break in the 11th game before stepping up to serve out the match. She raced through the game to claim the title.

Barty hit 18 winners to 11 unforced errors, nine aces – including one on set point in the first set – and converted three of seven break point opportunities.

“Ash Barty is living proof that variety and finesse have a place in modern tennis, alongside power,” said WTA Legend Chris Evert, who was the first woman to hold World No.1 when the WTA instigated computer rankings in November 1975.

“As well as being an incredible player and consistent performer on the tour, she is a fantastic role model, respected by her WTA peers and fans around the world for her sportsmanship and humility. She is a champion in the best traditions, and I’m excited to see what the future holds for her.”

Barty returned to tennis in 2016 after a break during which she played professional cricket. She was unranked. By December 2016 Barty was ranked at 272, a year later 17. December 2018 Barty was up to 15, and now she is no. 1.