Barty powers into WTA Cincinnati final by beating Kerber

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Ashleigh Barty of Australia plays a forehand during her match against Angelique Kerber of Germany during Western & Southern Open. — AFP
Ashleigh Barty of Australia plays a forehand during her match against Angelique Kerber of Germany during Western & Southern Open. — AFP

Cincinnati - The top-seeded Aussie needed an hour and a quarter to move into Sunday’s title match

By AFP

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Published: Sat 21 Aug 2021, 8:40 PM

Last updated: Sat 21 Aug 2021, 9:13 PM

World number one Ashleigh Barty reached her sixth final of the season on Saturday as the Australian defeated Angelique Kerber 6-2, 7-5 at the ATP and WTA Cincinnati Masters.

The top-seeded Aussie, who has led the ranking table for the past 82 weeks, needed an hour and a quarter to move into Sunday’s title match, surpassing her semifinal showing from 2019.


Barty will play for the trophy on Sunday against the winner of a later match between Swiss wild card Jil Teichmann — who beat good friend and Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic in the quarter-finals — and Czech fifth seed Karolina Pliskova, more than a year and a half without a title.

Against Kerber, Barty increased her lead in the series between multiple Grand Slam winners to 4-2 as she duplicated a Wimbledon semi-final victory from last month.


Barty produced a dozen aces as she broke Kerber five times. Her 39 match wins this year nudge her one ahead of Aryna Sabalenka on the WTA list.


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