Barty on fast track after double in Stuttgart

STUTTGART • Ashleigh Barty has warned her rivals that she is heading into next week's Madrid Open with momentum behind her.

The Australian world No. 1 feels her tennis reached a new level during a "phenomenal" week in Stuttgart where she pulled off three successive comeback wins against top-10 opponents to claim her second title on clay.

The 25-year-old defeated Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 on Sunday to hoist her third WTA trophy this season and cement her place at the top of the rankings.

The WTA 500 Stuttgart Open victory included wins over Elina Svitolina and Karolina Pliskova after conceding the first set in each, and Barty believes she is serving up notice that she will be one of the contenders to watch at next month's French Open, where she claimed her sole Grand Slam in 2019.

"This week has been phenomenal for me," she added.

"We've played a lot of tennis, a lot of matches.

"I've certainly felt like I'm taking my tennis to kind of a new level, in a sense of being able to be calm and play with freedom and play without consequence in a way, just going out there and try to bring my best every single point."

Questions were raised over her decision to stay home during the pandemic-blighted 2020 season rather than rejoin the WTA Tour, but she has shown solid form over the past month.

She retained her Miami Open title this month and the victory over Sabalenka was her 10th straight win over top-10 opponents dating back to her 2019 WTA Finals title in Shenzhen.

Barty capped a stellar week in Stuttgart by teaming up with Jennifer Brady to win the doubles, beating top seeds Desirae Krawczyk and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

She leaves Germany not only with the €68,570 (S$109,925) winner's cheque in hand but also a new Porsche Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo to her delight.

"There is a first for everything, isn't there?" the Australian said, before claiming she had no intention of testing the top speed of her luxury electric vehicle. "Driving Miss Daisy over here."

Sabalenka later expressed her envy on Instagram, saying: "When you see @ashbarty driving away with your Porsche #enjoyit."

Elsewhere, 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu has pulled out of Madrid after returning a positive test for Covid-19.

REUTERS