Barty is preparing to try to win her home grand slam for the first time, having previously triumphed at the French Open and Wimbledon; Simona Halep won the Melbourne Summer Set 1 to secure her first title since 2020
Sunday 9 January 2022 10:17, UK
World number one Ash Barty was in imperious form on Sunday as the Australian handed Elena Rybakina a 6-3 6-2 defeat at Memorial Drive to win the Adelaide International and claim the 14th WTA title of her career.
Barty, who won the event in 2020, dominated against the 22-year-old seventh seed from Kazakhstan to win in just over an hour, as she hits form a little more than a week ahead of the start of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
"The work that I do with my team behind the scenes puts me in the best possible position to play good tennis time and time again, each and every time we're asked," Barty told reporters. "I certainly feel pretty good coming into the summer.
"I feel good leading up to an Australian Open like I have every year. Each and every preparation is unique, each and every preparation is different.
"So we take it for what comes and what it is, move on, try and do the best that we can in every opportunity, whether that's here in Adelaide or it's in Melbourne."
The 25-year-old took command midway through the opening set after being forced to save two break points in the seventh game, fighting back to win despite a double fault.
The home favourite capitalised on an error by her opponent after she put what should have been a straightforward winner into the net and Barty then hit an ace to hold.
When the failure to convert that opening rattled Rybakina, the Wimbledon champion ruthlessly took advantage to put herself in a match-winning position.
Barty carved out a break-point opportunity of her own in the next game that she immediately converted. From there, the Australian took command.
Rybakina's difficulties grew early in the second set, a double fault handing Barty another break in the opening game.
Barty, who has not dropped serve since doing so against Coco Gauff in the tournament's opening round, chalked up seven straight games with another break, to take a 4-0 lead before closing out a comfortable win.
Former world number one Simona Halep stormed past Veronika Kudermetova in straight sets at the Melbourne Summer Set 1 final on Sunday to claim the title and give herself a massive boost of confidence heading into the Australian Open.
Halep, who was forced out of last year's French Open, Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics by a calf issue, showed no signs of the problem as she beat Kudermetova 6-2 6-3 in one hour 14 minutes.
Kudermetova began the contest strongly, breaking Halep's serve to take a 2-1 lead in the first set, but the two-times Grand Slam champion responded well, breaking right back in the next game and then twice more to clinch the first set 6-2.
The second set unfolded in similar fashion, with Kudermetova taking the lead and Halep rallying to level the set at 2-2. Halep broke a few games later to make it 5-3 and then held to love to win her 23rd career title.
"It's really nice to come back here and play in front of you. Thank you for your support," Halep said to the crowd at the Rod Laver Arena, which cheered the Romanian on from start to finish. "You helped me to win."
Earlier on Sunday, American Amanda Anisimova battled through injury to beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-5 1-6 6-4 and claim her second WTA title in the Melbourne Summer Set 2 tournament being run concurrently.
Anisimova took the first set 7-5 after fighting back from a break down, but struggled in the second, as Sasnovich broke twice to take a 3-0 lead.
With the set at 4-1, Anisimova took a medical timeout for treatment on her left thigh, returning to the match with her leg heavily taped up.
Visibly hampered by her injury, Anisimova looked on the verge of defeat as she lost the second set and went 3-0 down in the third, but the American showed great resolve to fight back and break twice, before sealing the win with an emphatic ace.
"It's good to start the year in a good place and winning a title, I honestly couldn't ask for more," Anisimova said.
World number nine Iga Swiatek has pulled out of next week's Sydney Tennis Classic due to a rib injury, the 20-year-old said on Sunday.
Poland's Swiatek, who won the French Open title in 2020, went down to Barty 6-2 6-4 in the semi-final of the Adelaide International on Saturday.
Swiatek was scheduled to play US Open champion Emma Raducanu in the opening round of the WTA 500 event in Sydney, which has a packed field of top names and will be led by Barty.
The Australian Open, the year's opening Grand Slam will start in Melbourne on January 17.
"After intense pre season and last week's tournament in Adelaide I feel like my body needs more time to recover before Australian Open," Swiatek said in a statement on Twitter.
"I've been feeling some pain in my lower rib area which is why unfortunately I've decided to withdraw from the tournament in Sydney."
