Ash Barty eyes historic No.1 ranking at rich China tour finale

Ash Barty has more on her mind than the richest purse in women’s tennis history.

Ash Barty could become the first Australian woman to finish the year ranked No.1 in the WTA rankings. Picture: AFP

World No. 1 Ash Barty now knows the identity of the seven rivals who will challenge her for the richest purse ever in women’s tennis as she seeks to create history in China next week.

The Roland Garros champion will head to Shenzhen this week for the WTA Finals in an event that will determine whether she becomes the first Australian woman to hold the world’s top ranking at the end of a season.

The 23-year-old, who will then lead Australia in the Fed Cup final to be played against France in Perth on November 9-10, is the top seed for the select eight-woman field in the $20.4 million tournament.

Swiss star Belinda Bencic became the final woman to qualify for the season-ending championships when claiming the Kremlin Cup in Moscow this weekend.

The other qualifiers include Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka, Wimbledon winner Simona Halep and US Open victor Bianca Andreescu.

World No 2 Karolina Pliskova, dual-Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova and defending champion Elina Svitolina round out the field for the event played in Shenzhen for the first time.

Former Wimbledon semi-finalist and world No 4 Jelena Dokic described the deeds of Barty, who was recently named “The Don” of Australian sport this year, as remarkable when speaking at a function in Melbourne on Friday night.

“We all knew that she was a great player. We all knew that she was going to be unbelievable. It was only a matter of time before she was going to be top five,” she said.

“She is unbelievable the way that she plays. There is not a lot of women out there who play like her. (She can) come to the net, (she has) a good serve, (and) that slice backhand is the best in the world.

“I think it is really special what we have right now. A grand slam champion. The number one in the world.

“She is such a great ambassador, not just for tennis in Australia, but for sport in Australia.”

The field will be split into two groups of four for an initial round robin stage. The top two positioned women from each group progress to the semi-finals.

Barty, who is in the midst of her final training camp for the year ahead of the WTA Championships and Fed Cup final, is in a strong position to finish the year as the world No 1.

Only Pliskova, a former US Open finalist, is in a position to reel her in and it will take a phenomenal performance for the Czech to do so.

The Queenslander holds a 1161-point ranking buffer on Pliskova.

Barty leads Osaka, who defeated her in the final of the China Open earlier this month, by 1230 points and Andreescu by 1425.

The maximum amount of rankings points a competitor can earn in the event is 1500, which would occur should the champion be undefeated in the round-robin stage en route to the title.

But competitors in the round robin stage earn 125 points for each round robin match and an additional 125 points for each victory during this phase.

Even if Barty, who will compete in singles at the WTA Championships for the first time, fails to win a match, her participation will put her beyond the reach of all her rivals bar Pliskova.

The Australian trails in head-to-head battles against Svitolina (5-0), Kvitova (4-2) and Halep (2-1), though she has won her most recent battles against the latter two.

She has split her four outings against Osaka, leads Pliskova (3-2) and has never played Andreescu or Bencic.

Sam Stosur has qualified for the doubles at the championships with partner Zhang Shuai as her final event before the Fed Cup final.

Sydneysider James Duckworth, meanwhile, was beaten in the final of the Las Vegas Open by Vasek Pospisil.

The Canadian veteran defeated another Sydneysider in Chris O’Connell in the semi-finals.

The 25-year-old, who is also from Sydney, has enjoyed a remarkable resurgence this year in jumping more than 1000 spots to his current position of 149.