Ashleigh Barty on Saturday defeated Karolina Pliskova 7-6(1), 6-3 to win her maiden Miami Open title and become the first Australian woman since 2013 to reach the top 10 in the world rankings.
After dominating the tiebreak in the first set, Barty broke the big-serving Pliskova in a 12-minute game to open the second set.
From there on, the fatigued Czech, whose semi-final win over Simona Halep had finished after 1am on Saturday due to rain delays, put up little resistance.
Barty pumped her fists when Pliskova sent a forehand long on match point to hand the 22-year-old the biggest win of her career, which includes a US$1.3 million paycheck.
Barty said that the key to the match was extending rallies on the warm day in southern Florida.
“It was important for me to try to make it physical,” Barty, the first Australian to win the Miami Open singles title, said in an on-court interview.
Barty fired 15 aces, with Pliskova barely making an effort to return some of them.
“I tried to make the most of it,” she said of playing an exhausted opponent. “You don’t get these opportunities every single day.”
Pliskova, who rose to world No. 4 today, praised her conqueror.
“Congrats to Ashleigh. She played incredible all week, the 27-year-old said.
The win capped a memorable week for the 2011 junior Wimbledon champion, who took a break from tennis in 2014 to play professional cricket.
Barty, last year’s US Open women’s doubles champion, is the first Australian women since Samantha Stosur to crack the WTA’s singles top 10.
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