MATCH POINTS
The Sydney final will be the second time Petra Kvitova and Ashleigh Barty have met with a trophy on the line: their last meeting was the 2017 Birmingham final, won by the Czech 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 for her first title of her comeback from hand surgery. Kvitova leads the overall head-to-head 2-0, having also defeated Barty 6-1, 6-2 in the first round of Roland Garros in 2012.
2015 champion Kvitova is looking to become the fifth multiple titlist in Sydney this millennium, following Martina Hingis (1997, 2001, 2002), Kim Clijsters (2003, 2007), Justine Henin (2004, 2006, 2008) and Elena Dementieva (2009, 2010). Last year's runner-up Barty, meanwhile, is aiming to avoid becoming the first player to lose back-to-back Sydney finals since Lindsay Davenport in 2000 and 2001.
Kvitova has powered to the final without dropping a set against the likes of Aryna Sabalenka and Angelique Kerber: only Hsieh Su-Wei pushed her as far as a tiebreak in the second round. Barty began the tournament by beating two major champions, Jelena Ostapenko and Simona Halep, in straight sets, before dropping her only set of the week to Kiki Bertens in the semifinals.
Barty, who will be going for her fourth career title, has an even 3-3 career record in finals - although all three of her previous Premier finals account for the losses. Kvitova has won 25 out of her 32 finals so far, including her last seven: the last time the 28-year-old lost a title match was at Luxembourg 2016 to Monica Niculescu 6-4, 6-0.
Barty is on a seven-match winning streak in official WTA matches (not counting last week's Hopman Cup play), having concluded 2018 with victory at the Zhuhai Elite Trophy - the Australian's longest winning streak in main draw matches of her career. (Including qualifying, she put together eight consecutive victories in winning Kuala Lumpur in 2017 as a qualifier, plus winning her first round match in Miami.)
ORDER OF PLAY
KEN ROSEWALL ARENA (starts 12 noon)
After 2 ATP matches, not before 5pm
Ashleigh BARTY (AUS) vs [WC] Petra KVITOVA (CZE) [5]
SHOW COURT 1 (starts 12 noon)
Aleksandra KRUNIC (SRB) / Katerina SINIAKOVA (CZE) vs Eri HOZUMI (JPN) / Alicja ROSOLSKA (POL) to finish 6-1, 0-2
