World No. 10 Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands, the alternate who replaced a withdrawn Naomi Osaka, came back from a set down to stun World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 at the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen on Tuesday.
Bertens came into the meeting with more wins than any other player on tour this year (54 in total), but today’s result is her maiden victory against the Australian of six previous matches.
Barty held to love on her first service and then broke Bertens out of the gate, with the Dutch notching a pair of forehand unforced in the form of shots from the line sent just a hair deep.
Barty was brought to break point on her second service, but Bertens handed her another forehand unforced to take it to deuce. Barty proved unable to capitalize on the opportunity with a double fault helping Bertens along the way.
Bertens fired off an ace on her second service in the form of a beautiful passing shot that had Barty diving at the line to try and make the return.
Barty then logged a netted unforced to surrender a break point, but she still managed to create another break point and convert to work up a 3-1 lead.
Bertens then turned up the heat on return, converting double break point of her own to reduce the arrears to one game.
Barty was undeterred by this back and forth, notched her second hold to love of first set to go up 5-2.
Bertens coughed up yet another netted forehand unforced when serving at 5-2, and it looked like Barty might seal the deal, but the Australian let her grip loosen at just the wrong time, getting two netted unforced of her own.
But this would prove to be just a momentary blip for Barty, who served out the set to snatch the opener in just over half an hour.
The two players fought to deuce on Bertens opening service of the second set. A 10-minute battle of attrition ensued that Bertens managed to pry from Barty with some consistent groundstroke shooting from the baseline.
Barty held her opening service with a series of spectacular dropshots from the net, in an example of what the Australian No. 1 is capable of when using the whole court to her advantage. The same approach is what got her the first break of the second set to go up 2-1.
Bertens then got a break of her own, helped along by some abysmal first-service shooting from Barty.
The Dutch double faulted when serving at 2-all followed by a series of unforced off both sides handed Barty a break point, which she capitalized on to reclaim her one-set buffer.
But the good times would not last long. Bertens responded with two breaks of her own and a held serve to give her self the chance to serve for the set, where Barty’s bad run of first service shooting continued. Several backhands down the line sent way deep would seal her fate in the second set and send the match to a decider.
Barty’s string of unforced continued throughout the third, with the Australian coughing up 11 to essentially hand Bertens a 4-0 lead.
The two fought to deuce as Barty’s next service, but the unforced kept coming for Barty, who managed to barely hold on to go 4-1.
Barty managed to tighten up her shots considerably and broke back, and the two served out to 5-4 for the Dutch who then had the chance to serve for the match, which she did in style, sealing the win in just over two hours off a Barty netted unforced.
On court after the match, Bertens said that a day ago, she could not have imagined coming to play in the finals, much less defeating the world No. 1.
She also noted that it took a bit of a warm up on the indoor court at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center to find her form.
“Well in the beginning I think I was not playing so well I had to feel the court a little bit more, but I think I was getting better and better and coming to the net,” Bertens said.
“This tournament great, It is my first time to be here in Shenzhen; and the atmosphere is really nice,” she added.
Kiki Bertens reacts during the tennis game against Ashleigh Barty at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen on Oct 29, 2019. [Cover Image: VCG]
