NOTTINGHAM, June 17, 2018

World No. 17 Ashleigh Barty has defeated British No. 1 Johanna Konta 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to win the Nature Valley Open WTA International title in Nottingham on a sold-out Sunday at the Nottingham Tennis Centre.

In front of a packed Centre Court crowd, top seed Barty doubled her tally of WTA titles by lifting the Elena Baltacha Trophy – her first Tour-level triumph on grass. She broke serve once to secure the opening set before Konta did so in the second, and the 22-year-old held her nerve to edge the decider with a cross-court backhand winner after two hours and four minutes of play.

Barty, who won both the singles and the doubles ITF events in Nottingham at the age of 16 in 2012, said: “I feel great. Especially coming into a final, the adrenaline gets you going. I feel I played really well all week and it was building and building and getting better and better each game. Jo was going to be the biggest test. I’m very glad to come through in the end. It was a high quality match today.

“Jo was a Wimbledon semi-finalist and she was a finalist here last year. She’s obviously very comfortable on this surface. I think it was the cherry on top for me to make it to the final and make it to the weekend. I’ve always had fond memories here and to come away with the Trophy is really exciting.”

Konta said: “I’m a little bit sad that I couldn’t come through with the win today, but I’m taking a lot of positives from the week in general.”