{"id":53563,"date":"2021-04-03T21:22:49","date_gmt":"2021-04-03T21:22:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=53563"},"modified":"2021-04-03T22:00:46","modified_gmt":"2021-04-03T22:00:46","slug":"barty-cements-no-1-with-miami-open-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=53563","title":{"rendered":"Barty cements No.1 with Miami Open win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ash Barty<\/a> pushed a forehand winner into the open court as her opponent, Bianca Andreescu, laid on her back in the far corner, injured yet again.<\/p>\n

With that, the Miami Open<\/a> final was decided.<\/p>\n

Andreescu limped through 11 more points before she retired, crying, shaking her head and trailing 6-3 4-0.<\/p>\n

The No. 1-ranked Barty won her second successive Miami title Sunday (AEST), and the Australian was already in control of the match when Andreescu turned her right foot while hitting a forehand and sprawled to the hard court. Barty hit one more shot to win the point, and play continued.<\/p>\n

But during the ensuing changeover, a trainer taped Andreescu's foot, and after another game the injury-plagued Canadian reluctantly called it quits.<\/p>\n

"I really do feel for Bianca," Barty said. "She has had such a rough trot with injuries in the past."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Andreescu was again tearful at the start of her post-match news conference, when she explained that her trainer convinced her to retire rather than risk further injury.<\/p>\n

"I didn't want to stop," she said. "I trusted him, and I knew it was the best decision."<\/p>\n

The tournament was the first in the United States for the 20-year-old Andreescu since she won the 2019 US Open. She sat out 2020 because of injuries and the coronavirus pandemic and now faces another possible layoff.<\/p>\n

"I'm going to see what's up with my foot, and start visualising the healing process if it's something bad," Andreescu said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

On Sunday, 19-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner will try to become the youngest men's champion in tournament history when he plays No.26-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland. Each is seeking the biggest title of his career.<\/p>\n

Barty made her own breakthrough by winning the 2019 Miami championship. The tournament was cancelled last year at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

Five other women have earned consecutive Miami titles: Stefanie Graf, Monica Seles, Arantxa S\u00e1nchez-Vicario, Venus Williams and Serena Williams.<\/p>\n

"I shouldn't belong with that group," Barty said with a smile. "I haven't earned the right to be on a list with those champions. They're genuine champions and legends, and I feel very privileged to be mentioned in that sentence."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The match between Barty and Andreescu was their first, and a potential friendly rivalry looms. Barty dominated from the start of the final with her strong serve and all-court game.<\/p>\n

"She doesn't play like a lot of the players on tour," Andreescu said. "She likes to mix it up, like me. That's not fun to play against. I guess I'm getting a taste of my own medicine."<\/p>\n

Barty was playing outside of Australia for the first time since February 2020, and she arrived in Miami after a trip that took 45 hours because of two cancelled flights.<\/p>\n

"I said to my coach when we got here, it can only get better from here," she said.<\/p>\n

It did. Barty was one point from defeat in her opening match against Kristina Kucova, but she gained momentum from there and will keep her No. 1 ranking next week.<\/p>\n

With the pandemic limiting travel, the 2019 French Open champion heads into the clay court season expecting to remain away from home for months.<\/p>\n

"It's a great start for us," Barty said. "I'm looking forward to what will hopefully be a big season for us, and hopefully we can play some really good tennis."<\/p>\n

Because the pandemic reduced tournament revenue and severely limited attendance, the champion received $US300,110, compared with the $US1.35 million Barty won in 2019. Only 750 fans were allowed on the grounds per session.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ash Barty pushed a forehand winner into the open court as her opponent, Bianca Andreescu, laid on her back in the far corner, injured yet […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53563"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53563"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53565,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53563\/revisions\/53565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}