Ashleigh Barty will become the first Australian woman in 43 years to reach the top of the singles rankings after she won the Birmingham Classic grass court title on Sunday.
The 23-year-old beat the German Julia Görges 6-3, 7-5 in the final, meaning when the new WTA rankings are released on Monday she will knock Japan’s Naomi Osaka off the summit.
Barty, the French Open champion, actually gave up tennis in late 2014 and played Big Bash cricket for Brisbane Heat before returning to the sport in 2016. The last Australian woman to reach the No 1 ranking was Evonne Goolagong in 1976, although it only came to light 31 years later after the discovery of an error in the records.
“I’m a little bit speechless at the moment,” Barty said during the on-court trophy presentation after extending her winning run to 12 matches. “It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for me, a whirlwind year, but to be able to follow in the footsteps of Evonne, even to be mentioned in the same sentence as her is incredible.
“What she’s done for our sport, for Australians all around the world, she’s put us on the map and what she’s done for indigenous Australians as well has just been remarkable. You always dream of it [being world No 1] as a little kid but for it to become a reality is incredible. It’s not something that was even in my realm, this year we were aiming for top 10 and now to be where we are is a testament to all of the people around me.
“We started from scratch three and a half years ago without a ranking and now to be where we are is not only for me, but a massive, massive achievement for them.”
Addressing Görges, Barty added: “It’s just been the most incredible journey for myself and my team, and Jules, I couldn’t think of a better person to share the court with. We’ve had an incredible week in singles and doubles, you’re one of my best friends on tour and have always been there for me since I was a little tucker running around annoying everybody.”
Görges added: “She served an ace when I had set point so I think that says it all. It was a high-quality match and she deserved to win. I did everything I could today but she was better. I’m very happy this week I got seven matches, which is what I wanted.”
Johanna Konta eased into the second round of the Nature Valley International at Eastbourne with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Dayana Yastremska.
Konta, seeded 14, enjoyed a double break in the first set against the 19-year-old from Ukraine and then crucially broke in the ninth game of the second set, allowing her to serve out the match. The British No 1 will face Greece’s Maria Sakkari in the next round.
Heather Watson, Katie Swan and Harriet Dart all crashed out in the first round, leaving Konta as the sole British representative. Watson suffered a 7-5, 6-2 defeat to Alize Cornet from France to leave her without a WTA main draw win since September last year. Swan was beaten 7-6 (7), 4-6, 6-4 by China’s Zhang Shuai, despite serving 13 aces, while Dart lost 3-6 6-4 6-2 to her Australian Open doubles partner from earlier this year in 16th-seed Anett Kontaveit.
In the men’s tournament, British duo Paul Jubb and James Ward progressed through to the main draw.
Meanwhile Roger Federer warmed up for next month’s Wimbledon championships by swatting aside David Goffin 7-6 (2), 6-1 to win the Halle Open title for the 10th time on Sunday.
The world No 3 fired seven aces and broke Goffin’s serve three times to see off the Belgian in 83 minutes for a 102nd tour-level title and one that moved him to within seven of Jimmy Connors’ record.
It was also the 19th tour-level title on grass for the 37-year-old, who will be among the top contenders at Wimbledon as he looks to increase his grand slam haul of 20. “It’s unbelievable. I never thought when I first played here that I would win 10 titles,” Federer said.
