World No.1 Ashleigh Barty clinches her maiden title at Shiseido WTA Finals 2019 Shenzhen after defeating the defending champion Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-4 in the finals on Sunday. With this victory, Barty also earns the biggest cash of $4.42 Million in tennis.
Set one
Ashleigh Barty and Elina Svitolina began with a very solid opening service games. The first breakpoint opportunity came after 32 minutes into the match as Svitolina finally got a chance to get the breakthrough when the Australian was serving at 4-4. However, the Ukranian squandered the opportunity as she netted a forehand and Ashleigh Barty secure a great hold with some brilliant serving efforts.
Barry carried her momentum to the next game as she moved up 0-30 with two solid returns but then threw in a couple of routine errors. It looked like she had missed her chance at 40-30, but she kept on attacking and hit two forehand winners to earn a set point before missing a forehand at the set point.
Finally, Ashleigh Barty stepped in on Svitolina’s second serve and slotted a forehand return winner to take the first set 6-4 in 57 minutes.
Set two
Barty lost concentration after holding her opening service game and winning three consecutive games as she threw in a couple of loose shots followed by a double fault on breakpoint to bring Elina Svitolina back in the match.
In the next game, Svitolina cruised to 30-0 up before the World No.1 won three consecutive points on her way to break back and get back serve at 2-2.
Svitolina’s coach Andrew Bettles was on-court at the changeover after Barty held her at love to take the scoreboard to 3-2 and he offered her plenty of encouragement to the Ukranian star –
Svitolina looked to be heading for another hold at 30-15 while serving at 3-2, but then she made a couple of errors followed by her first double fault of the match on the breakpoint to keep Barty on the driving seat.
What a point!!!
The two players then traded breaks with Barty having a chance to serve for the match. Barty made no mistakes whatsoever as she served the match, winning the set 6-4 in 43 minutes.