She gave herself a nice birthday present by reaching the final of the Stuttgart Open on Saturday, but between current women’s World No.1 Ashleigh Barty and a third Tour title of the year stands feisty Belarussian Aryna Sabalenka.

In Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, the 25-year-old Aussie ran into her toughest opponent in Stuttgart. And World No.1 fell behind in the early exchanges as Svitolina started well and grew from strength to strength to blitz to a 6-4 win in the opening set.

Ashleigh Barty recovered from a set down to beat Svitolina in the semis, Aryna Sabalenka routed Simona Halep

For the better part of the second set, Barty struggled to impose herself on her opponent. Deadlocked at 6-6, the second set headed for a tie-break and the Aussie seized on her last chance to take the match to a deciding set.

With the momentum firmly on her side, Barty turned the tables on Svitolina in the decider to eventually come away with a 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 win.

Sabalenka, on the other hand, had a far easier outing against the 2018 French Open champion and current No.1 on the WTA Power Index on clay court, Simona Halep.

Striking the ball fiercely and prowling like a leopard ready to pounce on the first sign of weakness from her opponent, the World No.7 overwhelmed the two-time Grand Slam champion 6-3, 6-2 to storm into the final.

The contrasting nature of victories would mean a relatively longer recovery time for the World No.1, as the Belarussian made short work of the 29-year-old Romanian and will go into the championship with a bit more fuel left in her tank.

Barty and Sabalenka tied 3-3 in head-to-head

As far as head-to-head record goes, Barty and Sabalenka are currently tied 3-3, thereby indicating that neither will start as an absolute favorite in the big final.

They last met in the quarter-final of this year’s Miami Open, where Barty prevailed in three well-contested sets.

The Aussie ended up defending her 2019 title in Miami and followed up with her second Tour title of the year at the Charleston clay court event.

One of the features of Sabalenka’s rout of Halep was her incredible service game. She sent down heavy serves, often flying past the outstretched Romanian.

One suspects the Aussie will have to put early pressure on her serve and work the angles to make the Belarussian.

Read More: Ash Barty Fights Back Against Elina Svitolina to Reach Stuttgart Open 2021 Final

However, even that may not be enough for Sabalenka in her current form.