World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty clinched the 2021 Western & Southern Open women’s singles title with her 6-3, 6-1 victory over wild card Jil Teichmann Sunday.
Barty is the first Australian player to win the title in Cincinnati since Evonne Goolagong in 1973. She is also the first World No. 1 player and top seed to win the Western & Southern Open since Serena Williams in 2015.
Not losing a set in Cincinnati, Barty became the first player to accomplish that feat en route to the championship since Vera Zvonareva in 2006. She is also the first No. 1 seed to win the title in Cincinnati without losing a set in the Open Era and the first top seed to do so since Peaches Bartkowicz in 1967.
The two-time Major champion picked up her 13th career singles title in addition to her fifth singles title of the season. Barty also earned her second WTA 1000 championship in 2021 and the third of her career.
“It’s been a great week,” Barty said. “I felt like all week long I wanted to be really aggressive, I wanted to get up after my serve. I felt like these conditions were going to reward good serving and good first-strike tennis. Even though that’s not necessarily my repertoire all the time, I felt like I wanted to push myself this week to try and be more assertive on my serve. I felt like particularly in return games I was able to build pressure and over time that was able to wear down my opponents. It’s just been a great week of tennis all in all and certainly really exciting for us to come away with the title.”
Teichmann became a finalist in a WTA 1000 event for the first time in her career and was the third Western & Southern Open finalist in the last 14 years to be ranked 76 or lower. She is the third unseeded player in the last four years to pick up two top 10 wins (d. No. 2 Naomi Osaka, No. 4 Karolina Pliskova) to reach the finals. In addition to being the second Swiss finalist in Cincinnati, Teichmann was also the third consecutive wild card to reach the Western & Southern Open championship match.
“I have been feeling very good all week,” Teichmann said. “I can be happy with a little bit of everything. I have been serving very well, I have been returning well with good servers especially. I have been coming in when I needed to. I have been defending when I needed to. I’m really happy with my level.”
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