WTA Finals 2019: 5 points to note from the tournament
The 2019 WTA Finals wrapped up on Sunday, bringing down curtains on the professional 2019 WTA Tour. The year end championships saw the top eight women's singles players square off for the Billie Jean King trophy.
Ashleigh Barty emerged as the winner after she defeated Elina Svitolina in straight sets to clinch her first WTA Finals title. Svitolina failed to defend her title and ended the year without a title win.
This year's tournament saw players getting injured, replacements coming in, upsets taking place and new records created. We take you through the five big talking points of the tournament and what that means for the next year's WTA Tour.
#5 Ashleigh Barty wins on her debut
Ashleigh Barty, playing in her first WTA Finals emerged as the champion after defeating Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-3. It was Barty's first win against Elina in the six encounters between the duo, and the 23-year old took the match in one hour and 27 minutes to lift her fourth WTA title of the year, equalling Karolina Pliskovas's record. Barty won the 2019 Miami Open, 2019 Italian Open and the 2019 Roland Garros earlier this year.
The current World No.1 became only the second Australian to win the WTA Finals after Evonne Goolagong Cawley, who previously won in 1974 and 1976. Barty also became the seventh player to win the trophy on her debut and on her way to the win, she ended Elina Svitolina's nine-match winning streak at the WTA Finals.
Barty also became the first player since Serena Williams to end the year with the No.1 ranking and the WTA Finals Trophy. Ashleigh will now go on to play for her national team at the 2019 Fed Cup against France. Fed Cup finals will be played on the 9th and 10th November.