Barty is breaking the women’s tour one by one: ‘Will anyone keep up’

Ash Barty won her 16th consecutive match on clay to move within one win of her fourth title in 2021. The Aussie champ is on fire.

Ashleigh Barty cruised into the final at the Madrid Open with a 6-4 6-3 victory over wildcard Paula Badosa, as the world number one avenged last month’s loss to the Spaniard in Charleston.

Barty, the 2019 French Open champion, is targeting a fourth title of the year following her wins at Melbourne’s Yarra Valley Classic, in Miami and on clay in Stuttgart.

The top seed shaded a tight opening set against the 62nd-ranked Badosa, the first Spanish woman in the tournament’s 12-year history to make the semi-finals.

She converted her third set point when Badosa doubled faulted at 4-5, a single break of serve proving decisive for the Australian.

Barty dropped serve herself to start the second set but broke twice in succession to regain control and make it 16 straight wins on red clay.

Ashleigh Barty celebrates victory. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Paula Badosa was broken. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

“You have to learn from every game, every match you play against an opponent,” Barty said.

“I definitely learnt a lot from the match we played in Charleston. There was a small adjustment …

“I was able to look after my service games a little bit better and build pressure on return. That’s a massive part of it: not always winning points, but building pressure. Scoreboard pressure can be a big thing. That was a focus for me today.”

Ash Barty:

- Is 25-3 (89%) this year
- Has won 16 consecutive matches on red clay
- Has now passed 10,000 points (10,090)

Barty is setting the standard for consistency on the WTA. Curious to see if anyone will keep up.

— Tumaini Carayol (@tumcarayol) May 6, 2021

She will play fifth seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus after she crushed Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2 6-3 in the other semifinal.

— with AFP