ADELAIDE, January 18, 2020
World No.1 Ashleigh Barty from Australia and World No.18 Andrey Rublev of Russia have won the first Adelaide International, after playing in front of a sell-out crowd at Memorial Drive on Saturday.
Barty defeated Dayana Yastremska from the Ukraine 6-2, 7-5 in one hour and 25 minutes to claim her first WTA title on home soil.
It was a memorable day at Memorial Drive…
Watch how @ashbarty won her maiden title on home soil👇#AdelaideTennis pic.twitter.com/gct4qvP2Iz
— Adelaide International (@AdelaideTennis) January 18, 2020
“The best part about this week is I fought and scrapped my way through and got better and better in each situation, in each match,” Barty said.
“I just put myself in the position to play for another title, which is really exciting. It’s been incredible to play at home. A really, really special week.”
Rublev continues fine form
Third seed Rublev overcame qualifier and first-time ATP Tour finalist Lloyd Harris of South Africa 6-3, 6-0 in just under an hour to take home his second straight title in consecutive weeks following his triumph at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha.
The last man to capture two trophies in as many weeks to open the season was Dominik Hrbaty in 2004. Rublev’s victory today is expected to take him to a career high ranking next week.
How it happened from court side…@AndreyRublev97 | #AdelaideTennis pic.twitter.com/h8VySf8AFD
— Adelaide International (@AdelaideTennis) January 18, 2020
“I was not thinking about it, but, I mean, it’s an amazing feeling. Of course it’s an amazing feeling,” Rublev said.
“I’m really happy. I hope I keep working. I hope I keep improving, and we’ll see what’s going to happen.”
Top seeds Nicole Melichar from the United States and Chinese Yifan Xu defeated third seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Darija Jurak from Croatia 2-6, 7-5, 10-5 to win the women’s doubles title, while the unseeded pairing of Maximo Gonzalez from Argentina and Frenchman Fabrice Martin defeated fourth seeds Ivan Dodig from Croatia and Filip Polasek of Slovakia 7-6(12), 6-3 to win the men’s.
In total, 954 aces were served during the Adelaide International contributing $95,400 towards the #Aces4BushfireRelief campaign.
