TIL Desk Sports/ Australia’s Ashleigh Barty capped off the best week and a half of her career by rolling past Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 to win the Miami Open. The 11th-ranked Barty who earlier in the week had assured herself a spot in the top 10 showed she deserved that position with her phenomenal play in the final.
The 22-year-old Australian was playing in her first championship match of a WTA Premier mandatory event. Her nerves were apparent when she fell behind 3-1 in the early going. But Barty got herself into gear in the sixth game, showing off her wide range of shots from the baseline, to make it 3-3. That set ended up in a tiebreaker, which proved to be the key turning point in the match.
Barty gave nothing away in the “breaker,” using her slice backhand to perfection and wrapping up the set when a backhand return by her seventh-ranked opponent sailed over the baseline. The Australian then kicked her service game into a higher gear in the second set, winning 16 of the 18 service points against a big-hitting opponent who appeared to be growing more tired as the match wore on.
