WORLD number one Ash Barty has defended her 2019 WTA Miami Open 1000 crown with a straight sets win over a sore Bianca Andreescu. The Australian top seed got up 6-3 4-0 in the match to make it 12 consecutive wins in Miami. Having defeated Top 20 talents, Belarusian duo Victoria Azarenka and Aryna Sabalenka, and Ukrainian Elina Svitolina on the way to the title in 62 minutes against the Canadian eighth seed.

“I felt like with each match I have been playing better and better, which is ultimately what we are after,” Barty said. “To be able to have the title at the end is a bonus, and to be able to defend my title the first time in my career I’ve been able to do that is really, really special too.”

Barty served four aces to two for the match, and won a whopping 77.8 per cent of her first serve points, off a 61.4 per cent clip. Andreescu was efficient with getting her first serve in 73.8 per cent of the time, but won just 45.2 per cent of her points off her first serve, and could not consistently crack through on her opponents’ serve. Barty broke four times from eight chances to Andreescu’s one from two. Unfortunately a “freak accident” in the second game of the second set forced the Canadian to retire two games later.

“It’s never the way you ever want to finish a match, particularly in a final,” Barty said post-match. “I really do feel for Bianca. “I think she’s had such a rough trot with injuries in the past.

“I think that’s going to be one of the first of many battles for us. “I just hope from now on they are healthy and we can both stay out on the court and fight for everything that we can give. “Obviously I feel for her having to pull out today.”

Andreescu’s dominance in North America since the start of 2019 still remains strong, with the retirement just her third loss in 36 matches, and the Canadian was pleased with how she had performed throughout the tournament.

“I really fought through very tough matches,” Andreescu said post-match. “My body seemed to be good up until today. I think it was just, like, a freak accident.

“But other than that, I’m super grateful. “One of my first tournaments back in a really long time, and all I can say is that I’m super grateful.”

The Australian became just the sixth woman to successfully defend a Miami Crown, following in the footsteps of the Williams sisters – Venus and Serena – Monica Seles, Stefanie Graf and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario who are also past world number ones.

“They are genuine champions of our sport, legends of our sport,” Barty said. “I feel very privileged to be mentioned in that sentence, and it’s very cool and something I was unaware of. “But I think it’s extremely humbling to be mentioned in the same sentence as those champions, [and] I feel like I’ve got a long, long way to go yet before I can be in discussion with those names.”

The Miami Open title means Barty has now hit double-figure WTA Tour titles, following on from her Yarra Valley Classic win earlier this year. The 24-year-old will enter the clay court season full of confidence having collected a number of Top 20 scalps along her way to the title.

WTA MIAMI OPEN FINAL RESULT:

[1] Ash Barty (AUS) defeated [8] Bianca Andreescu (CAN) 6-4 2-0 RET