Adelaide International 2022 Winner, scores, highlights: Ashleigh Barty's dominance continues
Ashleigh Barty's reign as the best player on the WTA Tour continues as she defeated Elena Rybakina to win the 2022 Adelaide International on Sunday. This is her 14th career title in singles. She could hoist another trophy in a few hours, as she's in the doubles final as well alongside partner Storm Sanders.
Barty had a tough start to the tournament. She was trailing by a set and a break in her opening-round match against Coco Gauff. But she staged an incredible turnaround to defeat the teenager in three sets, winning 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. Since then she has looked simply unstoppable.
Barty defeated 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. She followed this up with a 6-2, 6-4 sail past former Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek in the semifinals.
Ashleigh Barty vs Elena Rybakina score
The World No. 1 defeated Elena Rybakina 6-3, 6-2 to win the 2022 Adelaide International.
WINNER! 
adds 2022 Adelaide International Women's Singles Champion to her repertoire after defeating Rybakina 
🏆 WINNER! 🏆
World No.1 @ashbarty 🇦🇺 adds 2022 Adelaide International Women's Singles Champion to her repertoire after defeating Rybakina 🔥
Final score: 6-3 6-2 👍
#AdelaideTennis https://t.co/mYVl0NcrN8
Ashleigh Barty vs Elena Rybakina highlights
Both players started the match on a strong note, holding serve comfortably and not facing any break points. Rybakina initially did quite well to hold her own against Barty, especially during the first seven games of the match.
We've got ourselves a match 🍿
Rybakina coming out firing against the world No.1!
#AdelaideTennis https://t.co/T0HnfsZFpU
The World No. 14 then had a couple of break points on the Australian's serve during the seventh game of the first set, but failed to capitalize. This proved to be her undoing, as missing such opportunities against Barty is quite costly.
The World No. 1 fended off break points to hold at 4-3, then broke Rybakina in the next game to lead 5-3 and easily served out the set to win it 6-3.
Barty continued her momentum in the second set as well, as she quickly raced to a 4-0 lead. Rybakina had no answers to her opponent's tactics, who demonstrated why she's the best player on the WTA tour right now. The Kazakh finally managed to hold serve in the second set to make it 4-1, but it was too little too late.
Both players held serve in the next couple of games. The Australian served for the match at 5-2 and closed it out on her first match-point. Barty has built up quite an aura of invincibility around her and the players have to play at an incredibly high level to get the better of her.
Barty will next play at the 2022 Sydney Tennis Classic, where she's the top seed.