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Barty lost the opening set in the pair's
first-ever meeting but conceded just three games in the
remaining two sets in Shenzhen to seal a win guaranteeing that
she will end the year as the WTA's top-ranked player, as well as
putting her on top of the Red Group in the competition's round
robin format.
She is joined by Japan's Naomi Osaka, who defeated Petra Kvitova
in three sets in a rematch of their Australian Open final
earlier in the season.
"I think it was a pretty high-quality match and it's a difficult
court to get rhythm on at times, so it's important to try and
neutralize when you can and that was the biggest key in the
second and third sets," said Barty.
Bencic took the first set by breaking the Australian in the
penultimate game as Barty sent her forehand long from behind the
baseline.
Barty responded in style, however, reeling off five straight
games to take control of the second set as Bencic struggled with
a heel injury.
The world no. 7 returned after a medical time-out to win the
opening game of the final set but Barty was soon in control
again, securing a break in the third game that allowed her to
cruise to victory.
Earlier in the evening, Osaka claimed her first-ever win at the
WTA Finals with a 7-6 4-6 6-4 victory over Kvitova in the pair's
opening match.
The Japanese right-hander lost all three of her matches on her
debut at the tournament last year and she made a slow start
against the Czech star, who broke in the first game before
holding her own serve to love to take a 2-0 lead in the opening
set.
But three double faults from Kvitova allowed Osaka to break back
in the eighth game and the 2018 US Open champion eventually took
the opening set in a tie break, conceding a solitary point.
Kvitova won a see-saw second set, securing three breaks to
Osaka’s two, to move the match into a third but the 23-year-old
held firm to pick up an opening victory.
"I'm not really one that plays that well in the first round,"
said Osaka. "It was very difficult for me to play against her at
first but I tried to fight no matter what and I'm very glad that
I was able to win."
(Reporting by Michael Church, editing by Tony Lawrence)
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