The Asian Swing saw a duo of breakout performances highlight an exciting denouement to the 2017 season, but only one can be named the WTA Breakthrough Performance of the Month for September. Vote for your favorite here at wtatennis.com!
September 2017 WTA Breakthrough of the Month Finalists
Ashleigh Barty: The young Aussie was just making her way back into tennis after a brief stint as a cricket star 18 months ago, and now finds herself in pole position to qualify for the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai after a stunning week at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.
Barty began the week in Wuhan with a late-night win over No.5 seed Johanna Konta, and backed it up with another upset against former World No.2 Agnieszka Radwanska. She saved her best tennis for back-to-back wins over former No.1 Karolina Pliskova and reigning Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko to reach the biggest final of her career.
She ultimately finished runner-up to Caroline Garcia after three grueling sets, but nonetheless earned a career-high ranking of No.23, and cracked the Top 20 on the Porsche Race to Singapore leaderboard.
Maria Sakkari: The talented Greek youngster had a week to remember herself in Wuhan, reaching the semifinals as a qualifier.
Sakkari pulled off an impressive upset over Toray Pan Pacific Open champion Caroline Wozniacki, and shocked BNP Paribas Open champion Elena Vesnina en route to the final four, where she ran up against Garcia.
The Greek No.1 earned a new career-high ranking, rounding out the World's Top 50 for the first time.
2017 Winners:
January: CoCo Vandeweghe
February: Kristina Mladenovic
March: Risa Ozaki
April: Daria Kasatkina
May: Jelena Ostapenko
June: Magdalena Rybarikova
July: Bianca Andreescu
August: Sofia Kenin
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com