Birmingham Classic: Ashleigh Barty remains in hunt for World No 1 ranking by setting up title clash with Julia Goerges

Birmingham: French Open champion Ashleigh Barty is one win away from becoming the first Australian to be crowned women’s World No 1 in 43 years after reaching the final of the WTA event in Birmingham on Saturday. Barty beat Barbora Strycova 6-4, 6-4 in the Birmingham semi-finals to advance to her third final of the season and extend her winning streak to 11 consecutive matches. [caption id=“attachment_6864841” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Ashleigh Barty celebrates winning her semi-final match against Barbora Strycova. Action Images via Reuters/Carl Recine[/caption] The 23-year-old hit 11 aces and 24 winners and did not drop her serve once in one hour and 24 minutes on court against Strycova. Standing in the way of Barty overtaking Japan’s Naomi Osaka at the top of the WTA rankings is a familiar foe in the shape of her doubles partner Julia Goerges, who beat Petra Martic 6-4, 6-3 in the other semi-final. Barty would be the first female Australian World No 1 since Evonne Goolagong Cawley. John Newcombe, Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt are the three Australian men to have topped the tennis world since rankings were introduced in 1973. Barty’s last defeat came on 16 May against Kristina Mladenovic at the Italian Open in Rome. Success in Birmingham would be her third tournament win in a superb three months after victory at Roland Garros and at Miami in March. But Barty is blocking out the thought of sitting on top of the world for now, preferring to focus on her game-plan for facing German eighth seed Goerges. “I keep it very simple. I don’t focus on them at all. They are things I can’t control necessarily,” Barty told reporters after her victory. “I have to try and do what I can do and that is to prepare and do as best that I can tomorrow and try and play a good tennis match and if I win, it’s a bonus. “They are all things that come with it. But those things are certainly not what I’m worried about. “It is not going to change the way that I sleep at night if I don’t get there or not. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”