BIRMINGHAM, Great Britain - It could be a milestone Sunday for Ashleigh Barty at the Nature Valley Classic.

With a 6-4, 6-4 win over Barbora Strycova in Saturday's semifinals, the Aussie advanced to her third final of the season and extended her winning streak to 11 consecutive matches.

The World No.2 will not only play for her first title in Birmingham in her second final on Sunday, but the World No.1 ranking.

A victory would see her pass Naomi Osaka and ascend to the top spot, becoming the first Aussie in 43 years to hold the mantle. 

"I have to try and do what I can do and that is 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," said Barty. "There are all things that come with it, but those things are certainly not what I'm worried about. 

"Every time you step on the court it's a different opponent, it's a different occasion and I have to try and adapt and be as well prepared as possible for that particular person and that's all that I can control, try and do that on my half, and if I'm able to execute on the day, it's a bonus."


Against Strycova, Barty hammered 11 aces and 24 winners, and never lost serve over the course of an hour and 24 minutes. 

Despite only landing 50 percent of her first serves for the match, Barty landed big serves in key moments. She won 83 percent of the points behind her first serve, dropping just five, and saved all five break points she faced.

"She has the ability to play with so much variety and adapt her game style to who she's playing, and I think that is one of her biggest strengths," said Barty.

"If something is not working, she has options to go to and she can go to options, B, C, D, all the way through the alphabet, she has that many shots and kind of, shots in her arsenal.

"She can go to so many different things and play so many different styles. It was important for me today to try and almost make it a little bit of a boring match and make it a little bit kind of serve and first shot and dominate on my part anyway."

After the pair traded holds of serve to begin the match, the next four games saw each player create break point opportunities.

It was Barty who came good, however, as she was the one to break in the fifth game, while Strycova could not convert a chance at 2-1, or a pair at 2-3. 


In the second set, the first eight games went with serve, as neither player could break despite having opportunities early on.

Strycova was the first unable to convert, as she again saw two chances on Barty's serve pass by in the latter's first service game, while she saved one break point herself in the third game that immediately followed.

The World No.2 eventually powered through to win the last three games, however, and scored her second win against the Czech on the Birmingham lawns and third in four meetings. 

"I felt like I had really good rhythm on my serve today," the Aussie added.

"I knew it was important I could get up and try and hit my spots as much as possible and put the pressure back on Barbora to try and come up some bigger serves on her service game, so it was really nice to get out some tricky situations with some serves when I needed them."