Two years after lifting the champion’s trophy at the Adelaide International, Australia’s Ashleigh Barty repeated the feat with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
Contesting her 20th singles final, the 25-year-old Barty made a crucial hold of serve from 15-40 down to level at 3-3 in the first set. From then on, the top seed won seven straight games and triumphed in 64 minutes.
The lowest-ranked opponent Barty faced this week in Adelaide was No.22 Coco Gauff in opening match. After falling 6-4 4-2 behind against Gauff, Barty won eight sets and 35 service games in a row to clinch her 14th WTA singles title.
In the quarterfinals, Barty gained revenge on world No.12 Sofia Kenin, her conqueror at 2020 Australian Open, when she struck a career-best 17 aces and won 31 of 32 first-serve points. In the semifinals, Barty ended defending champion and world No.9 Iga Swiatek’s eight-match winning run in Adelaide, thus winning 11 of her past 12 meetings with Top 10 players.
This week marks the 109th overall week at No.1 for Barty; she has held the No.1 ranking for 102 consecutive weeks, the fifth best streak in WTA history.
Barty’s apparel this week at the Adelaide International was Fila’s all-black Slice Serve collection: the Fila Slice Halter Tank and the Fila Slice 13.5″ Skirt. Her Fila shoes were the Axilus 2.0 Energized Black/Rose Gold model.
Before heading to the Australian Open, Barty will play the Sydney Tennis Classic.
