10 Things: Australian Player Ash Barty

Big things are predicted for young Ashleigh Barty, who will compete in the AO Women's Doubles Finals. Learn more about this rising Australian star.

By Erik Gudris

(January 23, 2013) -- This year's Australian Open featured a number of young women all set to make a name for themselves in the WTA. Australia's Ashleigh Barty (Ash for short) is one of them and will aim for her first Grand Slam title this weekend.

1. Queensland Kid: Barty was born in Ipswich, Australia on April 24th, 1996. She still calls the Queensland town home.

2. Wimbledon Wonder: In 2011, Barty won the junior Wimbledon title at age 15 beating Irina Kromacheva in the finals.

3. Wildcard Woman: Though she was a top junior player, no one expected Barty to win the Australian Open Wildcard event at the end of 2011 that secured her an automatic berth into Melbourne. Though she lost in the first round to Anna Tatishvili, Barty did end up winning four ITF events during the course of the 2012 season. Barty finished last year ranked No. 175 in the world.

4. Hopman Cup: Barty started 2013 competing at the Hopman Cup where she was a last minute replacement on the Australian team. Barty earned wins over Germany's Andrea Petkovic -- who retired with an injury -- and Italy's Francesca Schiavone. Barty also played doubles with Bernard Tomic.

Barty later said about the win over Schiavone "I can't believe it myself, I don't remember anything about it. This tops Wimbledon, this trumps everything. I'm just so happy with the way I played." (Source: ABC Grandstand)

5. In Her Own Words: Barty was interviewed prior to her first round singles match at the 2013 Australian Open against No. 15 seed Dominika Cibulkova.

6. AO 2013: Though Barty lost in the opening round to No. 15 seed Cibulkova in three sets, Barty teamed up with Casey Dellacqua in the women's doubles event. They defeated No. 3 seeds Maria Kirilenko and Lisa Raymond en route to reaching the finals.

7. Melbourne Milestone: Barty and Dellacqua are now the first all-Australian team to reach the women's doubles final since Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Helen Gourlay Cawley won the event back in 1977.

8. Grand Slam Girl: Barty, at age 16, will try to become the youngest woman to win a Grand Slam title since France's Tatiana Golovin, also at 16, won the French Open Mixed Doubles title in 2004 with Richard Gasquet.

9. Doubles Delight: "I'm so pumped. It's great to have a reward like this," said Barty after reaching the women's doubles final. "After having a good start to the summer, this is just icing on the cake. (Source: Perth Now)

10. Off The Court: When not competing, Barty enjoys reading, video games and fishing. Barty can be followed on Twitter at @ashbar96 (Source: WTA.com)

(Photo Credit: Getty)