Ash Barty celebrates her birthday in style
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ash Barty has celebrated her birthday weekend with a victory at the Stuttgart Open with a third consecutive win in the final against Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The tennis star, who turned 25 on Saturday, later won the double titles on Sunday with her American partner Jennifer Brady.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To top the weekend off, Barty received her 68,570 Euros ($107,090) winner’s cheque and a new Porsche following her singles win.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Barty won against the Belarusian with 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 to secure her third singles title for the year.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In her third day of wins over Karolina Pliskova and Elina Svitolina, Barty dropped the first set but managed to recover, demonstrating her skill as the world’s best player.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At the end of a tough second set, Sabalenka needed a medical timeout. In the decisive final set, the Belarusian was in tears at one of the changeovers, struggling with her heavily-strapped right thigh and Barty’s all-court game.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It’s been an incredible week, and an incredible start for us on what will be a long journey,” said Barty, who now holds big-event wins in both the US and Europe as she returns to the global circuit.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I’m enjoying every minute and very grateful for doing what I love here in Stuttgart.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite suffering from a painful abductor muscle issue that flared up in the first set, Sabelenka conceded, saying, “She’s number one, she’s on top and she’s a great player.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This latest win comes as Barty’s 10th successive victory over a fellow top-10 player and saw her jump to the top of the WTA’s ‘Race to Shenzhen’, the order of merit system used to identify the top female player each year.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It was also her first European tournament on clay since her 2019 French Open triumph.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After just over an hour’s rest, the young Aussie joined forces with Australian Open finalist Brady to defeat US pair Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Desirae Krawczyk 6-4, 5-7.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Following her three-and-a-half hours on the court, Barty celebrated becoming the first player to win both finals at the same Stuttgart tournament since American Lindsay Davenport 20 years prior. </span></p>
