World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty of Australia successfully defended her Miami Open title Saturday, leading 6-3, 4-0 before Canada’s Bianca Andreescu retired due to an ankle injury.
The top-seeded Barty, 24, captured her 10th career WTA title, including the 2019 Miami Open. The 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Barty has won 12 consecutive matches in Miami and is the sixth woman to defend the crown there. She joins Steffi Graf (1987-88, 1994-96), Monica Seles (1990-91), Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (1992-93), Venus Williams (1998-99) and Serena Williams (2002-04, 2007-08, 2013-15).
Barty broke the eighth-seeded Andreescu’s serve twice in each set. She won 78 percent of her first-service points (21 of 27), fired four aces and saved one of the two break points she faced in the 58-minute match.
“It’s never the way you want to finish,” Barty said. “I feel for Bianca because she has had a lot of injuries and I hope it doesn’t hamper her season too much.
“This is the first time I have defended a title and I’m excited we could kick-start a long season in the best possible way.”
Andreescu, 20, was competing in her first final since winning the 2019 U.S. Open. Down 0-3 in the second set, she took a timeout for medical attention after tumbling to the court and appearing to roll her right ankle. She was ultimately unable to continue.
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Andreescu returned from a 16-month layoff in February after suffering a left knee injury at the WTA Finals in China in October 2019.
“I just want to say for me, getting back on my feet wasn’t easy, but I continued to believe in myself and I never gave up,” Andreescu said. “To everyone out there going through a tough time like me now, I just want to say keep your head up and continue to believe in yourself.”
Andreescu had to battle through four three-setters in a row to reach the final. She will climb three spots to No. 6 in the world rankings next week.
This was the first career meeting between Barty and Andreescu.
–Field Level Media