Ash Barty became the first Australian woman to win a home trophy in nine years on Saturday with her 6-2, 7-5, defeat of Dayana Yastremska at the Adelaide International
The Queenslander ranked world No. 1 duplicated the success of Jarmila Wolfe, who did it in 2011 in Hobart.
Barty was presented with a hand-carved trophy made by local Aboriginal craftsmen which was blessed on court by a tribal elder in full striped body paint to cleanse any lingering evil spirits.
Barty heads into her top-seeded role at the Australian Open on Monday fully charged after a productive week on court.
It was her second win over rising 19-year-old Yastremska, whom she also defeated in Miami on the way to that trophy last March.
Barty will remain atop the WTA rankings when the Open starts in Melbourne on Monday.
“This is a great start to the year,” Barty said after winning in 87 minutes while dropping just two points on serve in the opening set.
“We had a great tussle out there, I was finally able to bring it across the line.
“I’ve enjoyed the time here, I really tried to bring my best this week.,:
“I love playing at home in Australia, This is the payoff for the preseason work we did. It’s about coming out here and enjoying the competition.
“It nice to get ball rolling this week, I can’t wait to get started in Melbourne next week.”
Barty went up a break to start the second set but was pegged back as her Ukrainian opponent broke back for 4-4.
The Australia finally emerged with another break for 6-5 and finished off victory a game later to huge applause from a sellout 5,000 crowd at Memorial Drive.
