Barty claims the biggest prize money in tennis history by winning WTA Finals
Sunday 3 November 2019 16:58, UK
World No 1 Ashleigh Barty ended the 2019 season in style as she beat defending champion Elina Svitolina to win the WTA Finals in Shenzhen.
The 23-year-old Australian, who had lost all five previous meetings with Svitolina, won 6-4 6-3 to claim $4.42m (£3.4m) - the biggest prize money in tennis history.
Barty, the reigning French Open champion, ended Svitolina's 10-match winning run at the WTA Finals and stopped the 25-year-old becoming the first player to successfully defend the title since Serena Williams, who won three in a row between 2012 and 2014.
It feels like it's been a year that just hasn't stopped.
The first set went with serve until the 10th game, when Barty - on her third set point - met a Svitolina second serve with a forehand winner.
Svitolina gained an early break in the second when Barty double-faulted on break point, but the Australian responded by reeling off the next three games in style.
A double-fault at 30-30 gave Svitolina the chance to break back, which the Ukrainian did at the first chance, but Barty again responded superbly to go 5-3 up.
And the Australian impressively served the game out to love to claim victory.
Barty, who only broke into the top 10 in April, said on the official WTA website: "It feels like it's been a year that just hasn't stopped.
"It's been a year of incredible ups and downs - I think more ups than downs. To cap it off with a very, very special night tonight in Shenzhen is really cool."
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