Ashleigh Barty from Australia holds the championship trophy after defeating Bianca Vanessa Andreescu from Canada in the women s finals at the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida on Saturday, April 3, 2021. Barty won 6-3, 4-0, Ret. PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxHUNxONLY MIA20210403123 GARYxIxROTHSTEIN
Ashleigh Barty created a bit of history at the 2021 Miami Open
Australian star Ashleigh Barty created a bit of history after winning the 2021 Miami Open.
Barty was the top seed coming into the clash and took on eighth-ranked Bianca Andreescu. However, the match didn’t go the way many would have wanted.
Barty won the first set but her rival had to retire from the match with the score at 6-3 and 4-0. Andreescu had problems with her ankle and had to retire, and this handed Barty her second Miami Open title.
She had won the title in 2019 and with the 2020 edition being cancelled due to the Coronavirus, this was the first time Barty had defended a title in her career.
That bit of personal history was great for Barty as she now has 12 consecutive wins in the Miami Open. This was Barty’s 10th title of her career and the former French Open champion also matched some other legends with this win.
Barty’s achievement of defending her Miami Open title also put her in a list of some quality stars as well.
Not many have defended the Miami Open and she became the first since Serena Williams as the top seed to win the title.
Barty also joined the likes of Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Venus and Serena Williams to have defended the title.
The Australian was told about this achievement and she had a great response to this:
“I feel like I haven’t earned the right to be in a list of names with those champions. They are genuine champions of our sport, legends of our sport. I feel very privileged to be mentioned in that sentence. It’s very cool and something I was unaware of.”
Barty does have a lot on her mind. She is a former French Open champion but hasn’t won another Grand Slam apart from this.
Her best performance apart from the 2019 French Open triumph is reaching the semi-finals of the 2020 Australian Open.
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