WTA Tour results: Ash Barty defeats Aryna Sabalenka to claim Stuttgart final

Ash Barty showed the fighting qualities that have taken her to world No. 1 with a stunning fightback in the Stuttgart Open final.

Australia's Ashleigh Barty came from a set down to win the Stuttgart final.

World No.1 Ash Barty completed a triumphant return to European clay on Sunday night, rallying from a set down – again – to claim the prestigious Stuttgart Open title.

The Australian star lost the opening set for the third straight match, but a nine-game surge set up a 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 victory over ball-crushing Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.

She’s won her past 10 contests with top-10 opposition after also seeing off Elina Svitolina and Karolina Pliskova, who both served for the match against her, in the semi-finals and quarter-finals, respectively.

It was Barty’s second clay court title behind her breakthrough 2019 French Open crown.

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Ash Barty launches a forward during the Stuttgart final.

Barty returned to the court to also win the doubles final with American Jennifer Brady, beating top seeds Desirae Krawczyk and Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4 5-7 (10-5).

In doing so, she became the first player to score the tournament double at Stuttgart since Lindsay Davenport in 2001.

Barty’s won a tour-leading three titles from her six events this year – all Premier-level events, including at Miami and Melbourne – to go with her Australian Open quarter-final run.

“This week’s been phenomenal for me,” she said afterwards. “We’ve played a lot of tennis, a lot of matches.

“And I’ve certainly felt like I’m taking my tennis to kind of a new level, in a sense of being able to be calm and play with freedom and play without consequence, in a way.

Barty hits BACK 🥊

We're going three in Stuttgart!#PorscheTennispic.twitter.com/vGhz3sSGGv

— wta (@WTA) April 25, 2021

“(I’m) just going out there and trying to bring my best every single point.”

Barty shot 3-0 ahead in the final set, but had to fight hard after Sabalenka twice staged a mini-resurgence, including briefly getting back on serve to reduce her deficit to 2-3.

A day after celebrating her 25th birthday, the Queenslander immediately broke Sabalenka again, then staved off three more break-back points in an epic seventh game that proved pivotal.

Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka shows her frustration.

Barty needed all her composure and guile to survive Sabalenka’s huge ball striking, which became increasingly unpredictable and wayward after the first set.

The Belarusian sought off-court treatment following the second set and played out the match with strapping on her upper right thigh.

Barty hit more winners (26-22) than Sabalenka, who hurt her chances with a whopping 39 unforced errors, and converted five of her 12 break-point chances compared to her opponent’s two-from-10.

The triumph will see her leapfrog 2021 Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka to the front of the points race to the year-end WTA Finals, which she won two years ago.

After her standing as the top-ranked woman in the world was questioned in the early stages of the season, she’s made a major statement in April with the Miami and Stuttgart titles.