Australia’s Ashleigh Barty finished the year as the WTA Year-End World No.1 for the second straight year, having first cemented her place as No.1 on June 24, 2019.
He emergence brings it to a total weeks atop the singles rankings to 50.
The WTA 2020 Year-End Rankings was released on Wednesday after the tour traveled through 14 countries and regions to a total of 27 events, including three Grand Slams and three WTA 125K Series events, in a pandemic impacted season.
As the Tour came to a halt in March due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the WTA Rankings became frozen, allowing ranking points to extend beyond the traditional 52-week window so that a player’s world ranking would not be impacted due to the suspension.
Under the revised system, a player’s ranking is comprised of her best 16 results in singles and best 11 results in doubles based on the points earned between March 2019 through December 2020 and includes the “Better of 2019 and 2020” points earned at Tour-level and Grand Slam events.
A statement made available via the WTA website said the WTA Rankings are based on a 52-week system with results from a player’s best 16 tournaments for singles and 11 for doubles.
Barty emerges as the WTA No. 1 for the second consecutive time after she achieved the same feat June 24, 2019.
Her total weeks atop the singles rankings to is now 50.
According to wta.com, since the 2019 season, Barty has appeared in seven finals, winning two of her biggest titles at 2019 Roland Garros and the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen.
She went 11-3 in 2020, having kicked off the season by lifting the trophy on home soil at the Adelaide International and making back-to-back semifinal runs at the Australian Open and Qatar Total Open (Doha).
Meanwhile, Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei also earned the WTA Year-End World No.1 Doubles Ranking for the first time in her career.
She is now into her 26th non-consecutive week as the No.1 doubles player.
Partnering with Barbora Strycova, who finished the year at No.2, the pair reached a Tour-leading five doubles finals in 2020, posting a 23-2 win-loss record by capturing the titles at the Brisbane International, Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Qatar Total Open (Doha) and Internazionali BNL d’Italia (Rome).
They also finished as runners-up at the Australian Open.
