Ash Barty has reminded everyone why she’s the best in the world with a brilliant victory over Bianca Andreescu to lift the Miami Open title in her first tournament outside Australia for over a year.
Canada’s Andreescu had to retire with an ankle injury when 6-3 4-0 down in Saturday’s final but Queenslander Barty had already dismantled her outclassed opponent before the unfortunate conclusion.
Barty, who spent last year out of competitive action back home during the pandemic, demonstrated her readiness for global tennis domination again with a superb all-court display over the 2019 US Open champion.
She was on the way to what seemed an inevitable victory when Andreescu took a tumble, turning her right ankle when 2-0 down in the second set and having to call for the trainer when she went three down.
She tried gamely to carry on but after the merciless Barty served an ace to go 4-0 ahead, the 20-year-old slumped to her haunches, looked at her team on the sidelines, broke down in tears and trudged slowly to the net to concede the match after just 59 one-sided minutes.
Barty’s biggest triumph since the 2019 WTA finals in China capped a stellar fortnight’s work which saw her beat three top-10 players and three grand slam champions en route to successfully defending the title she won when the Miami Open was last played in 2019.
It felt even more remarkable considering that she’s had to battle jet lag after enduring a 50-hour journey from Brisbane to the US and to survive being a match point down to Kristina Kucova earlier in the tournament.