Ash Barty made a blistering start and rode out a tighter second set yesterday to win the WTA Elite Trophy title with a convincing 6-3, 6-4 victory over rising Chinese talent Wang Qiang in Zhuhai.
The 22-year-old Australian beat defending champion Julia Goerges in the semi-final and picked up from there to win the US$2,349,363 tournament for the 12 best-ranked players who fail to qualify for the WTA Finals.
It was Barty’s third WTA title after her triumphs on grass at the Nottingham Open earlier this year and at last year’s Malaysian Open, but by far her biggest.
“It’s been a great finish in China this week,” she said.
Barty romped to a 4-0 lead over Wang in the first set at the Hengqin International Tennis Center.
Wang, who has risen to 22nd in the world on the back of a fine run of form, staged a minor comeback to get back on serve at 4-3, but a delightful drop shot handed Barty her third break and she served out to win the set.
With a service that was clicking, Barty’s all-court game could do the the rest and after being forced to save a break point for 2-2, she broke Wang again to go 4-3 up.
From then on, victory never looked in doubt.
As Barty attacked, China’s No. 1 was struggling to hold onto her own serve let alone mount a counter-attack, and the Australian sealed the victory with a perfectly executed backhand crosscourt volley.
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