WTA Finals Shenzhen: Ashleigh Barty storms into the semi-finals
Ashleigh Barty has sovereignly reached the semi-finals at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen. The world's first-ranked first defeated Petra Kvitova smoothly with 6: 4 and 6: 2.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Oct 31, 2019, 01:16 pm
After their slip-up against substitute Kiki Bertens, Ashleigh seems to have found Barty back on track. And how: In the decisive group game, the Australian world ranking first prevailed with 6: 4 and 6: 2 against Petra Kvitova, thus fixed after Elina Svitolina as the second player a place in the semi-final. The Ukrainian, however, had done so in the parallel group. In Barty's second match of the day, Belinda Bencic and Kiki Bertens, who stepped in for the injured Naomi Osaka, play the second spot in the semifinals.
In the first set, Kvitova was able to leave the match open, but after the early break in the second round, Barty, who won her first Grand Slam title in 2019 at Roland Garros, pulled away. After at least 98 minutes of playing time, Barty, who will finish the year in any case as the first of the WTA charts, used her third match point.