Australian rising star Ashleigh Barty has progressed to the biggest final of her career with a straight-sets win in the Miami Open semi-finals.
The 12th seed sealed the match with an ace to storm past 21st-seeded Annett Kontaveit of Estonia 6-3, 6-3, after dealing with a lengthy rain delay, on Thursday, local time.
Barty reacts after her win over Kontaveit.Credit:AP
Barty, who will rise to a career-best number 9 in the world rankings next week, advances to a Saturday showdown at the WTA Premier Mandatory event against Simona Halep or Karolina Pliskova.
"Obviously, I've been doing the right things throughout the week to put be able to put myself in a position to play for a title," Barty said.
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"You have to go out there and embrace it."
Romanian Halep would return to top of the rankings if she were to beat Czech Pliskova in their semi-final later in the day.
The Barty-Kontaveit match was delayed by more than an hour due to weather conditions.
Barty trailed 0-2 when play was first halted just six minutes into the centre court match.
Upon resuming, the Queenslander broke Kontaveit's serve to get back to 2-2 before the players were again forced off the court, this time for hours.
Barty handled the prolonged absence much better and, after going ahead 5-3, broke Kontaveit'sRead More – Source
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