Barty bags Adelaide International, Halep and Anisimova wins WTA titles

Canberra: World No.1 Ash Barty had a perfect start to the new season ahead of the home Grand Slam — the Australian Open –, winning the Adelaide International in dominant fashion by crushing world No. 14 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-2 in Sunday night’s final. This was Barty’s 14th career singles title and second […]

Canberra: World No.1 Ash Barty had a perfect start to the new season ahead of the home Grand Slam — the Australian Open –, winning the Adelaide International in dominant fashion by crushing world No. 14 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-2 in Sunday night’s final.

This was Barty’s 14th career singles title and second in Adelaide. The victory underlined Barty’s status as the favourite to win the Australian Open, where she is aiming to become the first home-grown champion since 1978.

Barty, 25, beat American prodigy Coco Gauff, 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin and 2020 French Open winner Iga Swiatek of Poland en route to the title in Adelaide, without dropping a set or a service game against Rybakina, Kenin or Swiatek.

It takes Barty’s record against fellow top-20 players to 17-1 since the start of 2021 and means she has won 21 of her last 25 matches on Australian soil. “It’s been a challenging 18 months, two years for all of us and it’s so nice to be here to enjoy a fantastic week,” she said on court after the match.

“You guys, the fans have made this week exceptional for me, you’ve made it so much fun and you’ve brought that spark back to my tennis and I thank you so much for that.”
Reigning Wimbledon champion Barty was challenged early but didn’t look back after breaking Rybakina’s serve at 3-3, closing out the first set in 29 minutes.

Having seized the advantage, Barty was at her dominant best in the second set, racing to a 4-0 lead and going on to win the final in 64 minutes. Barty and Storm Sanders will face Darija Jurak Schreiber and Andreja Klepac in the Adelaide doubles final before she heads to the Sydney Tennis Classic, ahead of the Australian Open on January 17.

Halep clinch Melbourne Summer Set title

Former world number one and No. 2 seed Simona Halep clinched the Melbourne Summer Set 1 women’s singles title after beating No 3 seed Veronika Kudermetova 6-2, 6-3 in the final, here on Sunday.

It was the 23rd career WTA singles title for Halep, who struggled with her calf and knee injuries in 2021 and missed many important tournaments.

The 30-year old Halep started slowly in both sets. She double-faulted to go down 2-1 in the first, and again to pave the way to a loss of serve in the first game of the second.

But Kudermetova was unable to take advantage either time. The World No 31 committed 27 unforced errors over the course of the match, three of which immediately handed the first-set break back.

Anisimova wins WTA title

In WTA tournament at Melbourne, American Amanda Anisimova beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 to win her second WTA title.

The 20-year-old Anisimova came from 2-4 down in the first set and 0-3 in the decider to clinch the trophy and win her first title in almost three years.

Anisimova broke down in tears on her exit from the 2020 Australian Open, her first major following the sudden death of her father.

Anisimova, a French Open semifinalist and former world No. 21, returned to some of her best form Sunday at Rod Laver Arena.

“I want to thank Melbourne, I always love playing here and I’m super excited for a couple more amazing weeks here,” she said in reference to the Australian Open.

“Tennis can be a difficult journey at times but I’m so happy and grateful to have the people in my life I have. It’s so good to start the year in such a good place, I’m super grateful.”

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