(FILA Luxembourg S.à r.l.) - FILA sponsored tennis player Ash Barty overcame Julia Goerges in straight sets at the Nature Valley Classic final Sunday in Birmingham to capture her sixth career singles title and third of the 2019 season. The 6-3, 7-5 victory is Barty’s 12th consecutive match win and has her positioned to take over the World No. 1 ranking when the WTA releases its updated rankings on Monday, June 24th.
Barty will become the 27th woman to hold the WTA No. 1 spot; she had an incredible journey to No. 1 that spanned over two years since her return to the game. After a stellar run in Paris at the French Open, Barty followed up this week by defeating Donna Vekic, Jennifer Brady, Venus Williams and Barbora Strycova en route to her fourth Tour-level final of the year.
"You always dream of No.1 as a little kid but to become a reality is incredible. It's not something that was even in my realm this year; we were aiming to be Top 10 and now to be where we are is a testament to the people around me who've been with me these last three years,” said Barty on her historic rise.
Next up for Barty will be Wimbledon, where she will make her Grand Slam debut as the No. 1 overall seed.
In the second grass season primer of the week, FILA sponsored tennis player Sofia Kenin captured her second singles title of the year at the Mallorca Open, defeating Belinda Bencic 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-4 in thrilling fashion.
Playing her first event inside the WTA Top 30, Kenin registered impressive wins over top seeds Elise Mertens [4] and Anastasija Sevastova [2] en route to a 2-hour 42-minute epic final against Bencic. Kenin saved three match points at 4-5 in the second set, only to overcome the Swiss, who is having a career season on Tour. With the win, Kenin improves to 6-6 against the WTA Top 20 this season and also holds an impressive 25-12 overall match record in 2019.
“With [Bencic], you have to fight every point, and I’m just really happy with this title. It means a lot to me,” said Kenin, of her fighting spirit and resolve this week in Spain.
Kenin will join Ash Barty as a seeded player at Wimbledon starting July 1.