WTA Finals: Kiki Bertens stuns World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty with a comeback three-set victory

Kiki Bertens stunned world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty with a comeback three-set victory in the season-ending WTA Finals in Shenzhen on Tuesday (29 October).

The world No. 10 turned the tide with ruthless returning and aggressive play at the net to overwhelm a deflated Barty, who could have sealed a spot in the semi-finals with a victory.

Bertens won 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and nine minutes in a see-saw match featuring 12 breaks of serve.

Always a tough battle with @kikibertens. Congrats my friend! A pleasure to share the court with you
One more chance on Thursday to fight pic.twitter.com/Bmnz1YxoEc

— Ash Barty (@ashbarty) October 29, 2019

“In the beginning, I did not play well but I think I got better and I tried to play aggressive and come to the net,” Bertens said after, according to AFP.

Bertens had replaced World No. 3 Naomi Osaka - who earlier in the day withdrew from the round-robin tournament due to a shoulder injury.

Bertens continued her strong performance after making the finals in Zhuhai last week and the semi-finals of the China Open earlier in the month, when she lost a three-set thriller to Barty.

Bertens, who made the semi-finals of last year’s edition, has to win both her matches to qualify from Red Group.

According to AFP, Belinda Bencic needs to win the later match against Petra Kvitova to stay in the tournament.