There is cause for celebration in the camp of Australian tennis player Ash Barty, the female equivalent, to a minor extent at any rate, to Nick Kyrgios, as she not only won her first WTA Tour title, but also raised her ranking to inside the world’s top 100.
Less than a year ago, Barty was entirely unranked in singles.
She won Sunday night in the WTA Kuala Lumpur tournament, beating Japanese player Nao Hibino by the handy score of 6 – 3, 6 – 2.
The 20-year-old pride of Ipswich should find herself around number 91 when the next rankings list is released, quite a rise when she returned from an absence of more than a year to try her hand at cricket.
She is not actually a head case such as Kyrgios, unless you consider giving up tennis to play cricket as a sign of mental instability.
She obtained admission to the WTA event by the qualifying route, but she now seems to be positioned such as to be offered the opportunity to be a direct entrant in the French Open, the Wimbledon Championships and the U.S. Open.
Barty earned $US 43,000 for the win and we must also give her kudos for undertaking to play in the doubles event, where she has qualified for the finals with partner Casey Dellacqua.
