season, Barty made her singles debut at the WTA Finals as the top seed. After defeating Belinda Bencic and losing to Bertens, Barty defeated Kvitová to advance out of her group. In the knockout round, she defeated Karolina Plíšková and Elina Svitolina, the latter of which for the first time in six attempts, to win the tour finals. With the title, she won $4.42 million, the largest amount of prize money at a single men's or women's tournament in tennis history to date. Barty finished the season as the year-end world No. 1 and won the WTA Player of the Year award, becoming the first Australian to ever receive this honour. Barty started her 2020 season in her hometown, at the Brisbane International, but picked up a disappointing second round loss against qualifier Jennifer Brady. However, she bounced back and captured her first title on home soil at the Adelaide International, defeating Dayana Yastremska in the final. After this, Barty entered the Australian Open as one of the favourites to win the title, and as the first Australian woman to ever play the tournament while being the WTA world No. 1. She lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Sofia Kenin, despite having two set points in each of the sets played. Nevertheless, Barty became the first Australian woman to reach the semifinals since Wendy Turnbull in 1984 and picked up her first top ten win at a major (quarterfinals over Kvitová). After taking a rest break, Barty returned to court making her debut at the Qatar Open, the first Premier 5 tournament of the year, where she lost to Kvitová in the semifinals. She next headed to Indian Wells, but play was suspended before the tournament began due to the COVID-19 pandemic. WTA tournaments resumed in August, but Barty decided to skip the rest of the year due to concerns related to travelling within the pandemic, which included deciding not to try to defend her French Open crown. She finished as the year-end world No. 1 for the second consecutive season due to the change of criteria in the WTA rankings. Doubles: Premier 5 title, US Open runner-up With CoCo Vandeweghe injured, Barty began to regularly partner with Victoria Azarenka. The pair reached the semifinals at the Miami Open and won their first title together at the Italian Open, a Premier 5 event. They defeated the top seeded team