Khachanov, Barty end 2018 with titles

ATP Paris 

An amazing tournament for Karen Khachanov, who finished 2018 winning his biggest prize yet.

In a career which began as a teenager - he made the quarter finals in the Kremlin Cup in October 2013 - Khachanov had won three titles, two this year, prior to Paris this week.

Those titles were all ATP 250 category, but victory over Novak Djokovic (2) in the final of the Rolex Paris Masters 1000 was now the career highlight, and a portent of regular top ten participation in 2019.

What the Paris performance has done for 22 year old Khachanov - he defeated Isner (8), Zverev (4), Thiem (6) and Djokovic (2) - is to rocket him from 18 in the world rankings to 11, and now Russian number one.

The victory, 7-5 6-4, put an end to the Djokovic match winning streak of 22, but nevertheless the Serb is back to world number one, and for the sake of tennis, it is refreshing to see one of the young guard accept a trophy of this magnitude, and achieve it against the very best.

WTA Zhuhai 

Ash Barty (9) collected her third WTA title, second for 2018, defeating Qiang Wang (11) in the final of the Hengqin Life WTA Elite Trophy 6-3 6-4

Shooting out to a 4-0 lead in the opening set gave Barty the ideal base from which she was able to control the match, even with the comebacks made by Wang during the contest.

With both players using all corners of the court, many rallies were varied and a delight to watch.

A sliced jumping backhand volley was the perfect shot to win the match for Barty who finishes 2018 at a career high ranking of 15.

The doubles final result:

Lyudmyla Kichenok / Nadiia Kichenok (3) defeated Shuko Aoyama / Lidziya Marozava (4) 6-4 3-6 10-7