Ashleigh Barty and Andrey Rublev are Champions at Inaugural Adelaide International

(January 18, 2020) World No.1 Ashleigh Barty (Qld) and world No.18 Andrey Rublev (RUS) have won the first Adelaide International, after playing in front of a sell-out crowd at Memorial Drive today.  

Barty defeated Dayana Yastremska (UKR) 6-2 7-5 in one hour and 25 minutes to claim her first WTA title on home soil.  

“The best part about this week is I fought and scrapped my way through and got better and better in each situation, in each match,” Barty said.

“I just put myself in the position to play for another title, which is really exciting. It’s been incredible to play at home. A really, really special week.”

Third seed Rublev overcame qualifier Lloyd Harris (RSA) 6-3 6-0 in just under an hour to take home his second straight title in consecutive weeks. His victory today is expected to take him to a career high ranking next week.  

“I was not thinking about it, but, I mean, it’s an amazing feeling. Of course it’s an amazing feeling,” Rublev said.

“I’m really happy. I hope I keep working. I hope I keep improving, and we’ll see what’s going to happen.”

Top seeds Nicole Melichar (USA) and Yifan Xu (CHN) defeated third seeds Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN) and Darija Jurak (CRO) 2-6 7-5 [10-5] to win the women’s doubles title, while the unseeded pairing of Maximo Gonzalez (ARG) and Fabrice Martin (FRA) defeated fourth seeds Ivan Dodig (CRO) and Filip Polasek (SVK) 7-6(12) 6-3 to win the men’s.

In total, 954 aces were served during the Adelaide International contributing $95,400 towards the #Aces4BushfireRelief campaign.