World Number One Ash Barty had cause to celebrate her 25th birthday when she beat Aryna Sabalenka in the finals of the Stuttgart Open in Germany.
The Australian tennis champion claimed her eleventh career title with a 3-6 6-0 6-3 triumph over the World No. 7 Belarusian player, who took to social media after the match with an hilarious post.
The image is a snapshot of Sabalenka mid-game, crouching as if reaching for something that’s running away, with the caption: “When you see @ashbarty driving away with your Porsche 🤣 #enjoyit”
It follows Barty’s winning prize of a Porsche Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo, along with a trophy, prize money and 500 world ranking points.
“I feel I have taken my tennis to a new level this week,” Barty said after taking her third title of the year.
“I wasn’t far off in the first set, there was a tactical shift when I stepped into the court more in the second set. I was proud to be able to put balls in difficult places which made her take more risks.”
Barty lost the first set, but bounced back to win the second set 6-0. Sabalenka left the court for a medical time out between the second and third sets, returning to take out a game after consecutively losing nine.
With this latest win, the 25-year old Australian becomes the first reigning World No. 1 to take out the title since Justin Henin in 2007.
This is Barty’s fifth win of the last 11 events she has competed. She has beat at least three top 10 players in her last four title runs and continues to hold a 17-3 record against top 10 players with a nine match winning streak since her 2019 Miami Open win.