Barty tops WTA Finals to bank £3.4m

World No 1 earns record prize to cap superb year London date is next for Djokovic after Paris win

World No 1 Ashleigh Barty ended her breakthrough season in style by winning the biggest prize pot in tennis. The 23-year-old Australian, who broke into the world’s top 10 only in April but is now ranked No1, beat defending champion Elina Svitolina 6-4 6-3 to win the WTA Finals in Shenzhen and scoop the £3.4million reward.

Barty, the reigning French Open champion, ended Svitolina’s 10-match winning run at the event and stopped the 25-year-old becoming the first player to retain the title since Serena Williams, who won three in a row between 2012 and 2014. “It feels like it’s been a year that just hasn’t stopped,” Barty said. “It’s been a year of incredible ups and downs – more ups than downs. To cap it off with a very special night is really cool.”

The first set went with serve until the 10th game, when Barty – on her third set point – met a Svitolina second serve with a forehand winner. Svitolina gained an early break in the second when Barty double-faulted on break point, but the Australian responded by reeling off the next three games.

A double-fault at 30-30 gave Svitolina the chance to break back, which the Ukrainian did at the first opportunity, but Barty again responded superbly to go 5-3 up. The Australian then impressively served the game out to love to claim victory. Meanwhile, at the Rolex Paris Masters, Novak Djokovic defeated Denis Shapovalov to win the event for the fifth time and boost his chance of finishing the season ranked No1 in the world.

Despite his 6-3 6-4 victory over the young Canadian, Djokovic will lose top spot in the rankings today for the first time in a year, with Rafael Nadal leapfrogging him. The Spaniard’s 640-point lead is a healthy one but, with the ATP Finals in London starting next week, Djokovic is chasing hard. In Paris, after beginning the week under the weather, Djokovic looked stronger with each match and was just too good for 20-year-old Shapovalov, appearing in his first Masters final.

Djokovic faced only one break point in the match while winning 14 of the 17 points in which Shapovalov had to rely on his second serve.

“It was a great tournament for me,” Djokovic said. “I haven’t dropped a set. I played really well, especially in the last three matches.

“Obviously Denis – first time playing in a Masters 1000 final, completely new experience – he has done well. I was solid, when I needed to I made the break and that was enough. This gives me a lot of encouragement going into the ATP Finals in London.”