World number 1 Barty off to a good start in Shenzhen

1⃣ win is in the books for World No.1⃣ @ashbarty at the #WTAFinals.

Re-live the action from the 2019 Shiseido @WTAFinals Shenzhen Live Blog --> https://t.co/DQWtXjId4X pic.twitter.com/iMdyVO8JoZ

— WTA (@WTA) October 27, 2019

Ash Barty came from a set down today to defeat Belinda Bencic at the WTA Finals in Shenzen. Barty has now captured the year-end number 1 ranking, and is the first non-USA, non-European player in history to do so. The match marked the first time that Barty and Bencic had ever played each other.

Here is the singles draw:

RED GROUP

Asheigh Barty (1)
Naomi Osaka (3)
Petra Kvitova (6)
Belinda Bencic (7)

PURPLE GROUP

Karolina Pliskova (2)
Bianca Andreescu (4)
Simona Halep (5)
Elina Svitolina (8)

In the other Red Group match, Naomi Osaka defeated Petra Kvitova, also in three sets. This was the first time the two had met since Osaka defeated Kvitova in the (for many of us, heartbreaking) 2019 Australian Open final.

Kvitova and Svitolina are the only players of the eight who have won the WTA Finals (2011 and 2018, respectively); Halep reached the final in 2014 but lost to Serena Williams. Both Kvitova and Halep reached the final in their debut WTA Finals appearances. Kvitova is one of only four women to win the event in her debut appearance.

Halep, incidentally, is the only one of the final eight who does not have a losing record against any of the other players.

In doubles, Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strycova defeated Sam Stosur and Zhang Shuai, and Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova defeated Gabriela Dabrowski and Xu Yi-fan.

Here is the doubles draw:

RED GROUP

Elise Mertens/Aryna Sabalenka (1)
Timea Babos/Kristina Mladenovic (3)
Chan Hao-Ching/Latisha Chan (5)
Anna-Lena Groenefeld/Demi Schuurs (8)

PURPLE GROUP

Barbora Strycova/Hsieh Su-wei (2)
Gabriela Dabrowski/Xu Yi-fan (4)
Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova (6)
Samantha Stosur/Zhang Shuai (7)

Babos and Mladenovic won the WTA Finals in 2018.