Having created history at Wimbledon, where she became the first Australian woman to win the title since her friend and mentor Evonne Goolagong half a century ago, Ashleigh Barty has not been averse to repeating it this week in Cincinnati. As she did at the All England Club, Barty beat Barbora Krejcikova en route to the last four. There, Angelique Kerber stood between Barty and a first appearance in the final – just as she had done in SW19. The match developed along similar lines to their meeting in south-west London, Barty running away with it at first, Kerber clawing her way back in, and the world No 1 finally prevailing after a tight second set, 6-2, 7-5. Barty will now hope to complete the symmetry by winning her first title in Cincinnati, although to do so she will have to beat not Karolina Pliskova, the Wimbledon finalist, but Jil Teichmann, the Swiss wildcard whose dream week continued with a 6-2, 6-4 win over the fifth-seeded Czech.
Not everything was identical. Whereas Barty initially struggled on serve when she last faced Kerber, here she was imperious, finding the court with 71% of her first deliveries to cruise through the opening set. Kerber began in determined fashion, but with Barty bearing down on her second serve from the outset, it was all she could do to keep pace with the Australian. The pressure told as early as the sixth game, where Barty showcased her variety to seize a love break, confounding Kerber with a skidding slice backhand, rolling a crosscourt forehand for a winner, and sealing the game with an audacious drop shot off the German’s second serve.
From there, Kerber’s game temporarily unravelled. Barty held commandingly to consolidate her advantage, and in the next game Kerber double-faulted to hand the top seed three set points. A couple of loose returns briefly delayed the inevitable, but by the time Barty fired a backhand pass to wrap up the set, Kerber had won only three points since conceding the first break of the match. She was soon in further trouble as Barty opened the second set with an exquisite half-volley winner, securing a dominant hold, before Kerber dropped serve for a third time in succession, a missed forehand giving Barty her sixth game in a row.
Things looked bleak for Kerber, but the former Wimbledon, Australian and US Open champion is nothing if not tenacious. Just as she had done on Centre Court last month, Kerber kept fighting, earning her first break point of the match with a precise backhand winner down the line. Some typically gritty retrieving from Kerber kept her in the next point just long enough for Barty to miss a highly makeable drop shot, and with Kerber now back on level terms – and playing with increasing aggression – there was a rare show of frustration from the Wimbledon champion a couple of games later as she missed a forehand to give Kerber the platform for a second break. But having won three successive games to lead 3-2, Kerber immediately relinquished the momentum with a loose service game, setting the scene for a combative final phase.
“I knew that Angie was lifting and I needed to go with her, and not being able to execute the points when I had set them up the way that I wanted to was frustrating,” said Barty, who is through to her sixth final of the year. “Being able to get that momentum back with the break straight away, then it was a bit of a tug of war. I felt like I was able to build pressure on Angie’s games, but we both did a good job of getting out of some tough holds late in that second set.
Barty saved a break point to hold for 4-3, a penetrating first serve laying the groundwork for a booming off forehand, and only some dogged persistence from Kerber kept her alive as she served to stay in the match for the first time a couple of games later. Serving to reach a tiebreak, as she had done at Wimbledon, Kerber was unable to repeat the feat, a pair of wayward forehands proving costly.
“It’s never, ever a walk in the park against Angie, she’s an exceptional competitor and I think early on in that second set she lifted, she went to another gear, and it took me a few games to go with her,” said Barty. “I think that was the change, she was able to lift her game, and even though there were some close games, she won the big points early in the second set, so I’m glad that I was able to find a way through.
“I had to find the balance of being aggressive and not getting too passive and letting Angie dictate. She moves exceptionally well and puts the balls in difficult positions. I felt like when I was able to control the court, I did a better job. I think in the games I got broken, she just saw too many second serves and was able to be assertive.”
In Teichmann, Barty will face an unfamiliar opponent. The pair have never played each other before but, having beaten Naomi Osaka, the reigning US and Australian Open champion, as well as the Olympic champion Belinda Bencic and Wimbledon finalist Pliskova, Teichmann will take some stopping. Like Camila Giorgi, who was ranked 71st before storming to victory in Montreal last week, the 76th-ranked Swiss arrives in the biggest final of her career with serious momentum behind her.
Teichmann was certainly too good for Pliskova, punishing the fifth-seeded Czech’s second serve as she won five games in a row to take the opening set. The Swiss showed impressive resilience to stave off three break points in the sixth game of the second and, although an exchange of breaks followed, Teichmann broke Pliskova again in the ninth game before serving out the match at the first time of asking.
“When I ask my coaches what they think of me, they always say, ‘You’re just an unexpected person, you do random things’ – so I guess that’s one of them,” joked Teichmann at courtside. “I’m feeling really good here. I like the conditions, I’m serving good, moving well; when I can, I attack when I can’t, I just defend. I’m just feeling it, I cannot even describe it.”
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