Aryna Sabalenka posts perfect caption after Ash Barty steals Porsche

Aryna Sabalenka posted the perfect caption after Ash Barty completed an incredible week with her third title of the year.

Ash Barty’s French Open campaign is off to a flying start.

The Aussie world number one took out the Stuttgart Open in Germany overnight with a 3-6 6-0 6-3 triumph over Aryna Sabalenka to claim her 11th career title.

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In the final of her first clay court tournament since she won the French Open, Barty lost the first set against Belarusian World No. 7 Sabalenka but bounced back in incredible fashion to win the Porsche Grand Prix.

Not only did she secure a trophy and 500 world ranking points, Barty also landed a Porsche Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo — and that might have been what hurt Sabalenka the most.

Asked if she was a speed fiend and was excited to test the Porsche’s limits, Barty said: “No, driving Miss Daisy over here.”

“This week’s been phenomenal for me,” Barty added, in her post-match press conference. “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, just going out there and try to bring my best every single point.”

How it played out

After being broken late to drop the first set, Barty won the second set 6-0 and looked to be dominating.

Sabalenka went off for a medical time out between the second and third sets, returning to the court with taping on her right thigh.

Barty, who famously lost her Australian Open quarterfinal to Karolina Muchova after an injury time-out ruined her momentum, made no mistake against Sabalenka, going up 3-0 in the third set.

It was an incredible run of nine straight games before Sabalenka won her first in the third set.

She then broke the Aussie, before Barty hit straight back to lead 4-2.

The Belarusian was visibly frustrated, with beIN sports commentator Tina Krizan saying: “That’s what it’s like to play Ash Barty, she gets under the skin of so many opponents.”

She clearly did with Sabalenka throwing her racket off court at the end of the game, before sheepishly picking it up to congratulate Barty.

Sabalenka wasn't very happy at the end of the game.

What it means

Barty became the first reigning World No. 1 to win the title since Justin Henin in 2007 and the first player since Lindsay Davenport in 2001 to sweep the singles and doubles in Stuttgart after partnering America’s Jennifer Brady for a second win this week.

“It’s extremely humbling to be even mentioned in the same sentence as both Justine [Henin, the last current World No.1 to win in Stuttgart] and Lindsay,” Barty said. “They are both incredible champions, legends of our sport, and to be able to have a little bit of a shared history within this tournament is really cool.”

It’s her third singles title in 2021 after taking out the Miami Open and Australian Open warm up, the Yarra Valley Classic.

Along the way to the final, Barty had to beat World No. 5 Elina Svitolina and World No. 9 Karolina Pliskova, losing the first set in each before bouncing back to win each game and ultimately the tournament.

It continues an enviable record for the Aussie World No. 1.

She has won five of her last 11 events, defeated at least three top 10 players in her last four title runs and has a 17-3 record against top 10 players with a nine match winning streak since her win at the 2019 Miami Open.

A Porsche Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo is not a bad trophy.

Social media was quick to congratulate the Aussie star as the French Open campaign got off to the perfect start.

As @Daria_gav might suggest, apparently Ashleigh Barty is pretty good from behind, at least this week.

— Anand Datla (@SportaSmile) April 25, 2021

2019 French Open champion Ash Barty is champion at her first red clay event since, beating Aryna Sabalenka 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 in the WTA Stuttgart final.

#1 Barty was a surprise champ in Paris last time, but she’s a reasonable choice as favorite for Paris this year.

— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) April 25, 2021

Great title win by Barty in Stuttgart. At home on clay. Still surreal without a crowd. We might be isolated but I wouldn’t trade places.#WTA

— Richard Hinds (@rdhinds) April 25, 2021

Ash Barty gifts herself a hard-fought title for her 25th birthday.

A year away from tour in 2020 because she chose not to travel during the pandemic but she's back playing the world No 1 she is. https://t.co/nUsMJ87vPG

— ZENIA D'CUNHA (@ZENIADCUNHA) April 25, 2021

It was a great birthday present for Barty, who won into the final on her actual 25th birthday.