Ashleigh Barty Claims First Wimbledon Title
Women’s tennis World number one Ashley Barty was at her best in the Wimbledon final as she claimed a thrilling 6-3 6-7(4) 6-3 victory against Karolina Pliskova to win the title.
Barty, 25, was on course for an easy triumph as 8th seed Pliskova suffered one of the worst starts ever seen in a Wimbledon final. Barty helped herself to the first 14 points of the match as Pliskova she froze solid and couldn’t contain Barty early on.
After a double fault left her 0-4 down, it was hard to see how she would win a game. Barty took the opening set in 28 minutes.
Pliskova stared with two double faults as she dropped serve early in the second set, but as the title loomed for Barty, the Czech began to tighten up. In a turn of events, Barty found herself serving to stay in the second set at 4-5.
Serving at 5-5 Pliskova’s game disintegrated from 40-0 as Barty recorded five successive points to give herself the opportunity to serve for the title. But errors by Barty gave Pliskova a lifeline, with the contest heading into a tiebreak.
A re-energised Pliskova was then 4-2 up in the tiebreak as she battled her way back to turn the match into a proper contest between two professionals. Barty got a couple of points to make it 2-6 in the tiebreak, but then double-faulted to send the final into a deciding set as Pliskova won the second set.
After surviving a nervy opening, Barty was gifted a break when Pliskova netted the simplest of volleys in the third set. Pliskova hung on at 2-5 to make Barty serve for the title. At 30-30, Barty slammed a forehand volley into the net. She then saved the break point and brought up match point with an ace.
After Pliskova struck a backhand into the net following one hour and 55 minutes of see-sawing action, an emotional Barty dropped to her knees in realisation of winning the Wimbledon title. The Australian spoke of her joy of emulating her idol Evonne Goolagong who won the first of her two Wimbledon titles 50 years ago.
“I said just keep fighting,” Barty said on court after receiving the gleaming Venus Rosewater Dish from the Duchess of Cambridge. “Kaja (Karolina) brought out the very best of me today.”
“It took me a long time to verbalise that I wanted to win this incredible tournament, and being able to live out my dream right now is better then I ever could have imagined. I hope I made Evonne proud.
“I didn’t sleep a lot last night and as I was thinking of all the what ifs but I felt at home out on the court,” Barty added.
Chidi Nwoke/Reuters/Wimbledon.
