Unseeded Ashleigh Barty continued her incredible run at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, beating No. 8 seed and French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, 6-3, 6-0, to reach her first WTA Premier 5 level final. The 21-year-old Barty, ranked No. 37 in the world, capitalized on a tired Ostapenko by hitting 15 winners and seven aces as she reached her third final of the season. During the tournament in Wuhan, Barty also notched her third Top 10 win by halting Ostapenko’s eight-match winning streak in Asia. In her match to the finals, Barty also defeated No.
7 Johanna Konta and No. 4 Karolina Pliskova.
Barty raced to a 2-0 lead and took control of the opening set after breaking Ostapenko for the second time in the sixth game. In the next game, Barty held her serve by hitting three aces for a 5-2 advantage before breaking Ostapenko anew to take the opening set in under an hour. Barty dominated the second set with Ostapenko failing to create a breakpoint from her opponent’s serves.
For the crown, she will next take on world No. 20 Caroline Garcia, who claimed her 40th win of the year and her first WTA finals appearance with a 6-3, 6-2 win over qualifier Maria Sakkari. En route to the finals, Garcia defeated some big names, including No.7 seed Dominika Cibulkova and No.12 seed Angelique Kerber.
Garcia and Barty will face each other for the first time.
Timea Babos makes it to Tashkent finals
In Uzbekistan, second seed Timea Babos booked a place in the finals of the Tashkent Open after beating Aryna Sabalenka, 6-1, 6-4. For the title, Babos will play Kateryna Bondarenko, who advanced to the championship match after Vera Zvonareva retired while trailing, 6-7(7) 1-4 down.
Babos will also play in the doubles finals after she and partner Andrea Hlavackova defeated the tandem of Irina Khromacheva and Ipek Soylu, 6-2, 6-3. They will take on Nao Hibino and Oksana Kalashnikova, 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10) winner over Bondarenko and Aleksandra Krunic.
Kerber opens Beijing campaign with victory
In Beijing, Kerber opened her campaign with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Naomi Osaka at the China Open.
The two have been familiar opening-round opponents in past tournaments, with Osaka ending Kerber’s title defense at the US Open. Kerber then avenged her loss to Osaka at the Toray Pan Pacific in Tokyo, Japan. Kerber hit 15 winners and capitalized on Osaka’s 39 unforced errors to reach the second round in under 90 minutes.
