World number one Ashleigh Barty underlined her Australian Open credentials by claiming victory at the Adelaide International 1 warm-up event.
The Wimbledon champion eased past seventh seed Elena Rybakina 6-3 6-2 on Sunday to wrap up her 14th WTA singles title in just 64 minutes.
Australian Barty is favourite to triumph on home soil when the first grand slam of 2022 begins in Melbourne a week on Monday.
Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! š š š
World No.1 @ashbarty wins her third career title on home soil š¦šŗ pic.twitter.com/W4c8CvDLmt
ā wta (@WTA) January 9, 2022
āI feel good leading up to an Australian Open, like I have every year,ā said Barty, according to wtatennis.com.
āEach and every preparation is unique, each and every preparation is different, so we take it for what comes and what it is, move on, try and do the best that we can in every opportunity, whether thatās here in Adelaide or itās in Melbourne.
āIt has absolutely no effect on the way that I prepare or the way Iām thinking leading forward just because itās a grand slam.
āWe look forward, we do what we can, then we see how we go.ā
Your Melbourne Summer Set 1 CHAMPION! š@Simona_Halep | #MelbourneTennis pic.twitter.com/r5pM1jbvs6
ā wta (@WTA) January 9, 2022
Elsewhere, there were titles for two-time grand slam champion Simona Halep and Americaās Amanda Anisimova.
Former French Open and Wimbledon winner Halep defeated Veronika Kudermetova 6-2 6-3 in the final of the Melbourne Summer Set 1.
The 30-year-old endured an injury-disrupted 2021, completing only nine of 13 tournaments amid calf and knee issues and dipping out of the top 20 for the first tie since 2013.
āThe body is great, I feel good,ā said 2018 Australian Open finalist Halep. āI had a tough five matches, and my body is good. I donāt feel that tired. Physically Iām in the right place.
Raise it high š@AnisimovaAmanda | #MelbourneTennis pic.twitter.com/OMqWSnNU03
ā wta (@WTA) January 9, 2022
āConfidence is growing. I feel confident. I feel that I have the game to win matches.ā
Earlier, 20-year-old Anisimova became the first WTA singles champion of 2022 after overcoming Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the Melbourne Summer Set 2 final.
The world number 78 was down a break in the deciding set but won 7-5 1-6 6-4 to add to the Claro Open Colsanitas title she won in 2019 in Bogota.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.Ā
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience forĀ our loyalĀ readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.Ā
That is invaluable.Ā
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalistās job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readersā comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readersā comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the āreport this postā link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here