MASON – The Ash Barty party just got a little shinier.
Ashleigh Barty won her first Western & Southern Open title with a swift defeat of Jil Teichmann, the wild-card entry that thrilled fans with three straight top-12 upsets this week. Barty dismantled Teichmann in just one hour and 13 minutes Sunday afternoon on Center Court 6-3, 6-1.
Barty, the first Australian player to win the W&S Open since 1973, hardly stumbled in her quest for the Rookwood Cup. The 25-year-old didn’t lose a set all tournament, completely filling the role of her No. 1 rank in the world and 1-seed position in the tournament.
In the first set of the finals match, the women rallied to a 3-3 tie until Barty’s serving got the best of Teichmann. Barty had her opponent scrambling to cover the court as she ran away with the first set, 6-3.
From there, things continued to get out of hand for Teichmann, who entered the match as the lowest-ranked player to compete in a W&S final since 2008.
Trailing 3-0 in the second set, Teichmann took a medical timeout to wrap her foot. On her return, Teichmann continued to struggle, allowing Barty to take her own service game in just eight total strokes.
Barty won eight straight games, digging Teichmann into a 5-0 second-set deficit before the Swiss made a move again.
The only hope for Teichmann came from her play in the service boxes. Teichmann played an agile game at the top of the court, pulling in some of her best points of the match from that point.
Teichmann postponed Barty’s victory by winning one game in the second set, but it proved not enough to bring herself back into contention as Barty cruised to the 6-1 second set victory.
With the win, Barty improved her record to 40-7 and grabbed her fifth singles title of the season.
Doubles champs
The women’s doubles champions were the first crowned at Lindner Family Tennis Center. Samantha Stosur (Australia) and Shuai Zhang (China) defeated six-seeded Gabriela Dabrowski (Canada) and Luisa Stefani (Brazil) in a two-set 7-5, 6-3 triumph Saturday night.
With the win, Stosur and Zhang recorded their third title as a team and first since the 2019 Australian Open.
Next came the men’s doubles final Sunday afternoon on the Grandstand. Second-seeded Marcel Granollers (Spain) and Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) claimed the title with their defeat of American wild cards Austin Krajicek and Steve Johnson.
Krajicek and Johnson brought the eventual champions to a tiebreak twice in the finals match, but both times Granollers and Zeballos landed on top. The match ended with a close 7-6, 7-6 final score.
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