Last year, Naomi Osaka, Ashleigh Barty and Bianca Andreescu were widely considered the players to watch in 2020. However, as we all know, this season was rather peculiar, and things go in a rather different way. Eventually, they played only 8 tournaments (combined), but they managed to stay at the top of the rankings because of the new provisionary system.
Naomi Osaka had a good season even if she played only 4 tournaments and she won just 1 title. However, that title was rather important since it was the US Open. Naomi disappointed in her first 2 tournaments as she lost in Brisbane’s 2nd round and in the 3rd at the Australian Open, where she was the defending champion. Despite playing only 4 tournaments, Naomi remained the world no.3.
Ashleigh Barty disappointed many fans after she called a season when she decided not to play anymore after February because of the global pandemic. Therefore, she just competed in Australia and the Middle East. In Australia, she won the tournament in Adelaide while she lost in the second round in Brisbane and the semifinal at the Australian Open. Ashleigh also played in Doha where she reached the semifinal. Even if she didn’t play for the biggest part of the season, Ashleigh remained at the top of the rankings.
Finally, we have Bianca Andreescu, which was arguably the most exciting player in 2019 especially after conquering her spectacular US Open against the great Serena Williams. Unfortunately, this year Bianca was hampered by a string of injuries that coupled with the pandemic prevented her from playing a single match. Still, because of the new rankings system, she remained the world no.7. Fortunately, Bianca is completely confident that she will compete in the Australian Open in January.
Naomi Osaka
At the moment ranked no.3, Naomi played her last match on the 12th of September when she beat Victoria Azarenka 1-6 6-3 6-3 in the final of the U.S. Open to win her 6th career title.
Presently, this year Naomi has a composed 16-3 match record. Osaka clinched 1 title at the U.S. Open. Naomi reached the final in New York.
Ashleigh Barty
Currently ranked no.1, Ashleigh played her last match on the 28th of February when she was defeated by Petra Kvitova 6-4 2-6 6-4 in the semifinal in Doha.
Currently, this year Barty has 11-3 win-loss record. Barty clinched 1 title in Adelaide.
Naomi Osaka and Ashleigh Barty played each other 4 times. The head to head is 2-2. The last time that they squared off, Naomi Osaka won 3-6 6-3 6-2 in the final in Beijing (China Open) in October 2019.
In the following video you can watch the key moments of their match.
Bianca Vanessa Andreescu
Now the world no.7, the Canadian played her last match on the 30th of October 2019 when she had to retire when playing against Karolina Pliskova in the round robin and the scoreline was 6-3 .
