Barty displays all-around game in capturing Miami Open title

Miami — Australia’s Ashleigh Barty capped off the best week and a half of her young career by rolling past Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 on Saturday afternoon to win the Miami Open.

The 11th-ranked Barty, who earlier in the week had assured herself of a first-ever spot in the top 10, showed she clearly deserves that position with her phenomenal play in the final.

The 22-year-old Australian was playing in her first-ever championship match of a WTA Premier Mandatory event, and her nerves were apparent when she fell behind 3-1 in the early going.

But Barty got herself into gear in the sixth game, showing off her wide range of shots from the baseline to break serve and pull even at 3-3.

That set ended up being decided in a tiebreaker, which proved to be the key turning point in the match.

Barty gave nothing away in the “breaker,” using her slice backhand to perfection throughout and wrapping up the set when a backhand return by her seventh-ranked opponent sailed over the baseline.

The Australian then kicked her service game into a higher gear in the second set, winning a whopping 16 of 18 service points against a big-hitting opponent who appeared to be growing more tired as the match wore on.

Barty also remained solid on return, grabbing a service break in the opening game of the second set to seize full control of the contest.

She then won the final game of the match in style, hitting winners with her backhand slice and forehand to get to 0-40 against Pliskova’s serve and clinching the biggest singles title of her career when a forehand by the Czech went over the baseline.

Although Barty’s serving stats - including 15 aces and an 86 percent winning percentage on first-serve points - were eye-popping, she said afterward that her commitment to playing strong defense also was key to the victory.

“I think it was important for me to continue to try and make it physical. I know that (Pliskova) has the ability to really hit you off the court and take it away from you, so I knew that I had to have my running shoes on today. I was just trying to make as many balls as possible,” she said in an on-court, post-match interview.

Barty, who beat two other top-10 players en route to the final, eighth-ranked Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens and Czech world No. 2 Petra Kvitova, will climb to a career-high No. 9 when the new rankings are released on Monday.

Pliskova, a former world No. 1, will move up from No. 7 to No. 4.

The Miami Open is one of four WTA Premier Mandatory events on the women’s tennis calendar, which rank only below the four Grand Slam tournaments and the season-ending WTA Finals in terms of ranking points.

The men’s final at the Miami Open will be played on Sunday, with American defending champion John Isner taking on Swiss great Roger Federer, a three-time champion.