Tumaini Carayol's report
That’s all from me, but what an eventful first WTA finals in Shenzhen this was. Four players withdrew from the tournament, including one of the alternates, but in the end the final was contested by defending champion and world number one.
Barty produced one of the best matches of her career today and at just 23 years old, this is only the beginning. Despite how dramatically her life has changed this year, Barty has been consistent throughout this year and her form hasn’t dipped.
Here is Barty’s speech after her milestone win. She’s now off to Perth for the Fed Cup final against France. More trophies to come.
What a week for @ashbarty !#WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/678w2JNA49
— WTA (@WTA) November 3, 2019
That's the match and the title!@ashbarty beats Svitolina 6-4, 6-3 to win the Billie Jean King Trophy at the @SHISEIDO_corp @WTAFinals Shenzhen! pic.twitter.com/eiiiXs84rY
— WTA (@WTA) November 3, 2019
2019 year-end top 10 WTA
— Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) November 3, 2019
1 Barty
2 Karolina Pliskova
3 Osaka
4 Halep
5 Andreescu
6 Svitolina
7 Kvitova
8 Bencic
9 Bertens
10 Serena Williams
Ashleigh Barty defeats Elina Svitolina 6-4 6-3: Year end number one, Roland Garros champion, WTA Finals champion and she just earnt the biggest prize money in tennis history ($4.42m) with her first ever win over Elina Svitolina.
She served it out to love with ease, punishing Svitolina with her first serve before Svitolina netted a forehand on match point. Take a bow, Ashleigh Barty.
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That was a great game with both players at their best. Barty put so much pressure on Svitolina, generating break point after a mixture of delicate hands, great defence. Svitolina fought back, first with a couple of big serves. As Svitolina ground out the long rallies, Barty patiently attacked with her forehand. One game away.
Second set: Ashleigh Barty 6-4 *5-3 Elina Svitolina: Ashleigh Barty breaks and will serve for the title!
Second set: Ashleigh Barty 6-4 4-3* Elina Svitolina: Great reaction from Svitolina, who breaks back just as it seemed like the match was getting away from her. Admittedly, she got some help from Barty, who double faulted at 30-30, but she finished with a very positive mood to the net. Her forehand down the line forced Barty to come up with a passing shot on her weaker wing, and she couldn’t. Back on serve.
Second set: Ashleigh Barty 6-4 *4-2 Elina Svitolina: That was pretty dire from Elina Svitolina. She seemed to be heading for another hold at 30-15, but then she threw in a couple of tentative errors followed by her first double fault of the match on break point. She is feeling the pressure and the world number one won’t hesitate to punish her.
Svitolina’s British coach Andrew Bettles was on-court at the last changeover and he offered her plenty of encouragement:
Bettles: We're talking about a couple of points difference, whatever happens for the rest of the match, stay positive. Go out there with renewed purpose. Stay with the hard shots into the backhand side, hard and fast. Quality into that backhand side.
— Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) November 3, 2019
Second set: Ashleigh Barty 6-4 3-2* Elina Svitolina: Barty consolidates the break back with a slick, quick love hold. After some great serving from the Aussie, she’s back in the lead.
Second set: Ashleigh Barty 6-4 *2-2 Elina Svitolina: Barty breaks straight back. With Svitolina cruising up 30-0, the Aussie played three stunning points in succession to break straight back. Her slice is working wonders and her forehand is backing it up incredibly. That concentration lapse could have dragged on for a while but Barty’s resilience has been so impressive this year.
Second set: Ashleigh Barty 6-4 1-2* Elina Svitolina: And here’s the biggest challenge of facing Svitolina. Barty has played great so far, but she just suffered a short lapse in concentration here, throwing in a couple of loose, bad errors followed by a double fault on break point. Suddenly, Svitolina is up a break and flying.
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Second set: Ashleigh Barty 6-4 *1-1 Elina Svitolina: Very good work from Svitolina to break Barty’s run of 3 successive games. The Aussie put a lot of pressure on her throughout, but Svitolina found a big forehands at 30-30, then a service winner at deuce. Finally, a missed return from Barty brought them level.
It’s difficult to overstate how impressive that set was from Barty. She served well, was patient with her aggression throughout and was creative whenever she could be, throwing in the odd dropshot and net foray to keep Svitolina guessing. Svitolina served great until that final game. She has to find her first serve on the important points.
Stats:
Barty: 19 winners and 18 unforced errors.
Svitolina: 6 winners and 6 unforced errors from
Second set: Ashleigh Barty 6-4 1-0* Elina Svitolina: Barty opens the second set as she finished the first, serving well and finding her forehand whenever she can.
First set: Ashleigh Barty 6-4 Elina Svitolina: Ashleigh Barty takes the first set! That was some impressive resilience. Barty moved up 0-30 with two solid returns, but then threw in a couple of routine errors. It seemed like she had missed her chance at 40-30, but she kept on attacking and slotted two forehand winners to bring up set point.
Barty missed a forehand on her first set point, then Svitolina slotted a passing shot past her on the second. Finally, Barty stepped in on Svitolina’s second serve and snapped a forehand return winner to take the first set. That was a brilliant set of tennis.
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First set: Ashleigh Barty 5-4* Elina Svitolina: The service games are getting tighter now and Barty saves break point to secure a great hold. Barty led 40-30, but then Svitolina, who is just flying around the court now, played two incredible defensive points to eventually force a couple of errors and bring up break point.
A costly netted forehand from Svitolina on the break point, but Barty earnt that hold with some great serving when needed. On her fourth game point, Barty came to the net after a brilliant low slice and sealed the hold with an easy volley.
First set: Ashleigh Barty *4-4 Elina Svitolina: Svitolina holds, but goodness, that was tight. Barty constructed a lovely point to force 30-30, stroking a crosscourt forehand followed by an angled dropshot. But at 30-30, Barty missed an easy forehand return. On game point, Barty moved forward behind a great slice and had a smash to finish the point, but Svitolina chased down every last ball until Barty relented with an error. As you can see, so much of this match will be on Barty’s racquet.
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First set: Ashleigh Barty 4-3* Elina Svitolina: Barty looked to be speeding through another service game at 40-0, only for Svitolina to peg her back to 40-30 after a sizzling backhand down the line winner and a great return. No matter. Barty crushed a crosscourt forehand, moved to the net and played an absolutely glorious angled backhand volley to hold. She has come to play.
First set: Ashleigh Barty *3-3 Elina Svitolina: Svitolina levels with another confident hold. More good serving and some proactivity as well: She absolutely crunched a backhand down the line at 30-0 and attempted a decent dropshot at 40-0, only for Barty to come up with a peach of an angled slice backhand. After a loose forehand from Barty, we’re level again.
What a rally, what a point!@ashbarty #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/9J5t5TnUs7
— WTA (@WTA) November 3, 2019
First set: Ashleigh Barty 3-2* Elina Svitolina: Another solid hold for Barty, who continues to serve well and is finding her serve and forehand 1-2 punch very early on. A shanked forehand error from Svitolina moves the number one ahead again.
First set: Ashleigh Barty *2-2 Elina Svitolina: A very good hold for Svitolina. It was sealed with another great unreturned serve, but it contained some of our first proper extended rallies. On the opening point, Barty patiently waited for a forehand and then slipped a forehand winner down the line. But Svitolina won the following two, her defence and hustle eventually forcing errors from Barty. That’s the challenge. How consistently can Barty put the ball past her?
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First set: Ashleigh Barty 2-1* Elina Svitolina: Both players are serving extremely well early on. Barty slams down three unreturned serves to slam the door shut on her second game with little fanfare.
First set: Ashleigh Barty *1-1 Elina Svitolina: Elina Svitolina served a mindblowing 16 aces against Bencic in the first round and she opens her account with two aces and an easy love hold. Game on.
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First set: Ashleigh Barty 1-0* Elina Svitolina: Barty begins with a very solid first game and ample first serves. Barty made her intentions clear on the very first point by moving forward to the net. She missed the simple backhand volley but it was a message: she will be the aggressor
So, who will win?
This is a tough, tough match-up for Barty because of Svitolina’s steadiness and her refusal to offer Barty any pace. Even when she is on the run and dragged far off the court, Svitolina constantly produces quality, deep shots to reset the point. Svitolina’s backhand is extremely solid, which means that she has no problem returning Barty’s kick serve and patiently dealing with her barrage of low slices.
Barty will have to attack with patience and look to open up the court with angles and width. She will probably hit fewer deep backhand slices than she did against Pliskova and she should really move forward to finish points at the net when she can. These slow courts do not play into Barty’s hands at all, but she has made it this far, so we’ll see what the world number one is made of today.
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Preamble
Hello! Welcome to our coverage of the final showdown at the WTA Finals, where Ashleigh Barty and Elina Svitolina are the last women standing, both literally and figuratively, on the final day of another long season.
We have an excellent final in store and one that also serves as a reminder of just how long this year has been. Svitolina won their only meeting in 2019 7-6(8) 5-7 6-4 at Indian Wells in March, a battle that lasted 3 hours 12 minutes. It feels so long ago and Barty’s life has transformed since they last played. Svitolina leads Barty 5-0 but clearly the gap in this match-up is narrowing. Now that Barty is number one and Roland Garros champion, we’ll see if she can close the rest.
Svitolina arrives into the final having used these slow courts to her advantage throughout the week, grinding down her opponents and forcing them to hit through her immense defence. The first person to consistently do so was Belinda Bencic in their semi-finals yesterday, and that was the first time Svitolina looked truly vulnerable, but eventually those long rallies ground Bencic down and she was forced to withdraw.
Barty has mostly been great this week. It’s difficult to forget the absolutely bizarre sight of her failing to find the court for an hour against Bertens in her second match and collapsing from a set and break lead. But it seems to have been nothing more than a blip. Otherwise, she has shown her impressive (and improving) competitive skills, recovering from a set down against Bencic and then Pliskova yesterday. She faces one of the best match players on the WTA today and she will probably need those skills again.
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