Ash Barty makes World No.1 history after Naomi Osaka meltdown
Ash Barty is set to make history after World No.2 Naomi Osaka's stunning meltdown during the quarter-final of the Miami Open.
The Miami Open has been full of drama leading up to the quarter-final and it continued after the 25-year-old Maria Sakkari produced a masterful display to defeat the Australian Open champion Osaka.
'CAN'T BELIEVE IT': Tennis world stunned by 'incredible' moment
'DON'T TRUST IT': Tennis players slammed over vaccine stance
Osaka was on a 23-match winning streak heading into her quarter-final clash but was destroyed 6-0, 6-4 in just 69 minutes.
And the heavy defeat for Osaka means World No.1 Barty will hold onto her ranking for at least another five weeks.
The Australian's ranking was helped due to the player rankings being frozen and a 'best-of' system introduced after the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on the sports world last year.
This resulted in her being able to miss most of the 2020 season, but hold her ranking points.
But Osaka's collapse, and Barty's charge at the Miami Open, will see her hold on to the WTA World No.1 spot for at least another five weeks.
Barty joins legends in history books
Barty reached the World No.1 ranking, not long after her maiden Grand Slam title at the French Open, on the 24th June, 2019, and has maintained her run at the top of the women's game since.
Another five weeks as World No.1 will see Barty reach 74 weeks at the top, which will see her surpass Caroline Wozniaki (71).
She will sit behind, Stefani Graf (377 weeks), Martina Navratilova (332), Serena Williams (319), Chris Evert (260), Martina Hingis (209), Monica Seles (178), Justine Henin (170), Lindsay Davenport (98).
However, tennis reporter Tumaini Carayol pointed out she would hold an asterisk next to Barty's name in the rankings due to the 'frozen-ranking' system.
One thing worth pointing out though is that one of the reasons why Barty was able to maintain her spot is because of how many points she compiled. Her current points total (9186) is the most since Serena 5 years ago and it was 8717 during her hiatus. Too high for anyone to catch.
— Tumaini Carayol (@tumcarayol) March 31, 2021
“Barty has more weeks at #1 than Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Kim Clijsters, Aranxta Sanchez Vicario, Garbine Muguruza combined,” Carayol tweeted.
“However, there is objectively a very obvious, once in a lifetime reason why she has been able to maintain her spot for so long. Probably the only thing in tennis I would actually asterisk.
“One thing worth pointing out though is that one of the reasons why Barty was able to maintain her spot is because of how many points she compiled. Her current points total (9186) is the most since Serena five years ago and it was 8717 during her hiatus. Too high for anyone to catch.”
Watch 'Mind Games', the new series from Yahoo Sport Australia exploring the often brutal mental toil elite athletes go through in pursuit of greatness:
Click here to sign up to our newsletter for all the latest and breaking stories from Australia and around the world.
