WTA/ATP preview: Barty, Garcia chasing biggest title yet

Rising Australian star Ashleigh Barty is eyeing her biggest career title when she meets Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia in today’s Wuhan final.

The 21-year-old has stunned four top 20 opponents to reach her first WTA Premier 5-level singles final, including a ruthless 6-3 6-0 dismissal of world No.9 Jelena Ostapenko in the semifinals. Barty hit seven aces in the 74-minute victory.

“It been an unbelievable week. We’ve played some really good tennis,” Barty said. “I think for us, we’ve been able to play a really consistent level throughout every match. We haven’t had any real drops. We’ve been able to change things tactically a little bit and be able to implement those really well.”

The world No.37 is projected to move to a new career-high ranking of No.23 after her Wuhan performance – and could move as high as No.19 if she wins the title.

Garcia, a three-time WTA singles champion, is also chasing her biggest title. The 23-year-old proved too strong for Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari in the semifinals, recording a 6-3 6-2 win to reach her first final of the season.

The world No.20 last played Barty in juniors.

“We played each other a very long time ago,” Garcia said. “We were both girls, very young at this time. It’s going to be a very different match. She’s played some great matches, she beat some top players along the week. So I have to be ready and play the best I have played this week.”

Garcia is projected to reach a new career-high ranking of No.17 by reaching the final. A title would see her jump to No.15

Babos dominating in Tashkent 

Hungarian Timea Babos is eyeing two titles in Tashkent today, contesting both singles and doubles finals.

The second seed qualified for the singles final with a 6-1 6-4 win over Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals, hitting 10 aces in a 66-minute victory.

Her final opponent is Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko, a 31-year-old No.133-ranked mother into her second career WTA singles final – and first since 2008.

Bondarenko advanced when Russian former world No.2 Vera Zvonareva, also a mother of one, retired in their semifinal. Bondarenko was leading 7-6(7) 4-1 at the time.

Babos and Bondarenko have played twice, splitting results in three-set battles in 2015.

Sugita sole seed left in Chengdu

World No.43 Yuichi Sugita is the only seed left in the Chengdu draw. The Japanese player faces Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin in today’s semifinals.

Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, a former top 10 player whose ranking has slipped to No.113 after a horror run with injuries this season, has a chance to reach his third ATP-level semifinal of the year when he resumes his quarterfinal against Taiwan’s Yen-Hsun Lu leading 6-3 5-2.

The winner of that quarterfinal meets Argentinean Guido Pella, who upset Croatian talent Borna Coric and top seed Dominic Thiem in earlier rounds, in the semifinals.

Dzumhur’s momentum growing

After winning his first ATP title last week, Bosnian Damir Dzumhur has continued his career-best form with a stunning 6-4 7-5 win over world No.4 Alexander Zverev in the Shenzhen quarterfinals.

Dzumhur now meets Ukrainian fifth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov in the semifinals.

Second seed David Goffin and Switzerland’s Henri Laaksonen face-off in the other semifinal.