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By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, March 30, 2019

 
Ash Barty

Ashleigh Barty swept Karolina Pliskova, 7-6 (1), 6-3, to capture the Miami Open title and rise to a career-high rank of No. 9.

Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve

MIAMI—Celebratory orange confetti rained down from above signaling another south Florida Barty Party.

Ashleigh Barty arrived in Miami as defending doubles champion and departs as a superb singles champion claiming the biggest title of her career.

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The 22-year-old Barty charged through four consecutive games sealing a 7-6 (1), 6-3 triumph over Karolina Pliskova in the Miami Open final to claim her fourth career championship and first Premier title.

"It's just been, you know, an amazing two weeks," Barty told the media afterward. "It really has. I feel like we have jumped over a few hurdles this week. We have been able to, you know, make the most of some situations that I put myself in.

"I think that's the beauty of this sport is that there is always another opportunity to become a better player, to try and make the most of what you can. That's what we have been able to do over this last fortnight, to beat some really quality players. And to back it up each day is probably the most pleasing."

It was billed as a battle of force vs. finesse with Pliskova, one of the most lethal servers in the game, against one of the sport's most versatile players.

Barty flipped the script slashing a career-best 15 aces—nine more than her opponent—and winning 86 percent of her first-serve points.

Miami is a milestone for Barty, who raised her 2019 record to 18-3 in a victory that will vault her to a career-high rank of No. 9.

In a clash of first-time Miami finalists, Barty played proactive tennis and masterfully mixed the spin, pace and height of her shots deconstructing the 2016 US Open finalist for her third win in five meetings vs. Pliskova.

"I think I have always tried to bring as much variety onto the court as possible," Barty said. "I felt, for me, it's always about sometimes trying to neutralize what your opponent's doing.

"Obviously there was a bit of a phase in women's tennis where there was this big power and strikers that were getting on top of rallies early. But I think the physicality in tennis is, especially on the women's side, has grown, which has allowed more players to neutralize off that big first ball and work their way into the points."

The Aussie all-court player nearly doubled the power player’s winner output—41 to 22—and broke one of the biggest servers in the game three times. Pliskova, who worked late into the night defeating second-seeded Simona Halep in the quarterfinals, conceded fatigue was a factor. 

"I think she played well, for sure," Pliskova said. "I think it's a pity or unlucky that I didn't hold the serve a little bit longer because I was up a break, and she quite gave me a lot of mistakes in the beginning, which I think she didn't after.

"And I was tired, super tired. And also, the conditions completely different than what I have played the night matches. So of course I was not playing the best tennis. I was not serving the best."

The 5'5" Barty stands nearly seven inches shorter than the 6'1" Pliskova, but the Aussie shrewdly slid low slices to force the bigger woman to bend down and wreak havoc on her flat strikes.

The seventh-ranked Pliskova, who is projected to rise to No. 4 when the new WTA rankings are released tomorrow, committed 30 unforced errors. 




For the first time in WTA history, the first 14 tournaments of the season have been won by 14 different players.

A year ago, Barty partnered CoCo Vandeweghe to win the Miami Open doubles crown at Key Biscayne’s Crandon Park.

The tournament moved to the Hard Rock Stadium this year where Barty looked right at home knocking off talented Dayana Yastremska, former US Open finalist Samantha Stosur and four seeded players—seventh-seeded Kiki Bertens, third-seeded Petra Kvitova, 21st-seeded Anett Kontaveit and Pliskova—in succession to collect the biggest title of her career.

The final featured a contrast in styles pitting Pliskova’s pulsating serve and flat strikes vs. Barty’s varied attack predicated on her kick serve and slinky slice backhand.

Early on, Barty struggled for net clearance as some of her ambitious drives expired in net. Pliskova surprised her 5’5” opponent with the drop shot then drew an error earning the first break for 2-1.

Three games later, Barty was dialing in her forehand drive. She swatted a clean forehand winner down the line breaking back for 3-all.

Neither woman managed a break point the rest of the set as the opener escalated into a tie breaker.




Pliskova gained a fortuitous net-cord to level the tie break after two points. The rest of the breaker was all Barty.

Carving out an exquisite drop shot winner for the first mini-break, Barty backed it up with a forehand winner crosscourt and a 98 mph ace out wide stretching the lead to 4-1.




Trying to blow open points with her forehand, Pliskova made a cluster of errors as Barty reeled off six consecutive points to close the 52-minute opener. 

"The tiebreak, she just went for it," Pliskova said. "She played some good shots. So I think the first set was, you know, the key of the match, because I was feeling very tired from maybe like fourth, fifth game.

"So if I have a set for me would be maybe different. So was somehow tough to fight in the second. You know, I think she also improved in the second. Maybe she was a little bit nervous in the beginning, too." 


Barty doubled Pliskova’s winner output—19 to 9—in the first set and immediately applied pressure in the second set.

The 12th-seeded Aussie worked through a 10-minute game pushing Pliskova into the corners to dig out low balls.

On her fourth break point, Barty scored her second break of the day when Pliskova sprayed a forehand. Barty backed up the break at 15 for 2-0.

Pliskova pumped a tournament-best 31 aces en route to the final, but Barty was serving with increasing authority as the match progressed. Barty banged an ace down the middle holding for 3-1.

The steady stream of slice backhands from the Aussie forced the 6’1” Czech to scrape shin-high shots back.

Pliskova, who tends to strike the ball a bit stiff-legged, looked weary 93 minutes into the match. When Barty spun a forehand winner to hold for 4-2, Pliskova barely made a move on the ball instead swiping her blue Babolat racquet off the court.

Still, the fifth-seeded Czech hung tough streaming through a love hold in the seventh game.

Dispensing unsettling variation, Barty faced just two break points all day and stamped eight straight holds to close.

"I don't think there is that many girls play this way," Pliskova said. "Actually I think maybe it was (Roberta) Vinci before she retired, so I don't think there is somebody like this to playing that many slices and just to have this kind of the game.

" So that's why maybe she's so dangerous for everybody, because nobody's really used to it."

Dancing inside the baseline, Barty lashed a forehand down the line for triple championship point.

A flagging Pliskova sailed a forehand deep as Barty pumped both fists furiously wearing the wide smile of a champion.

The woman who once took a two-year sabbatical from tennis to play pro cricket has returned empowered by perspective, passion and a greater appreciation for the game.

"I think for me it was a bit of a no-brainer," Barty said of her time away from tennis. "I needed to take the break. Otherwise I don't think that I'd still be playing the game, to be honest. I think it gave me an opportunity to go and relax and see kind of what it was like to kind of have a normal life, because the tennis tour and the tennis life is very unique. It's very different. It's not for everybody."

Barty opened the season knocking off world No. 1 Simona Halep en route to the Sydney final where she fell to Petra Kvitova in a third-set tie breaker.

The pain of that loss lingered and also helped propel her to today's title.

"I'm not going to lie. I think Sydney hurt this year, losing in the final," Barty said. "That hurt, for sure. I mean, I think that's why I keep coming back. That's why I love the sport is that you have these amazing moments and you have these heartbreaking moments. But the journey in the middle is pretty bloody good."

 

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