Ash Barty overcomes Karolina Pliskova to win Wimbledon title, second career Grand Slam trophy
Ash Barty earned her second career Grand Slam title with a 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3 win over Karolina Pliskova in the Wimbledon final Saturday.
The top-seeded Barty, who won the French Open in 2019, became the first Australian woman to win the Wimbledon title since Evonne Goolagong in 1980.
Pliskova was seeking her first Grand Slam title. She also lost in the US Open final in 2016.
The eighth-seeded Pliskova didn’t win a single point in the first three games of the first set and then double-faulted on break point to hand Barty a 4-0 lead. She finally held serve for the first time to make it 5-3 before Barty served out the set.
Things were tighter in the second set before Barty broke Pliskova in the match’s first deuce game to take a 6-5 lead. But Pliskova broke back to force the tiebreaker — the final’s first since Venus and Serena Williams in 2009 — and then the first deciding set in the Wimbledon women’s final since 2012, when Serena Williams defeated Agnieszka Radwanska.
Barty, who improved to 6-2 in career meetings with Pliskova, found her form again in the third set, racing out to a 3-0 lead before closing out the match and championship on serve.
Both women were making their first appearance in a Wimbledon final, the first time that had happened since 1977, when Virginia Wade defeated Betty Stove.
Ashleigh Bart
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_(cropped).jpg) Barty in 2019
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| Country (sports) |  |
|---|---|
| Residence | Ipswich, Queensland, Australia |
| Born | 24 April 1996[1] Ipswich, Queensland, Australia |
| Height | 1.66 m (5 ft 5 in) |
| Turned pro | 2010 |
| Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
| Coach | Craig Tyzzer |
| Prize money | US$18,798,304 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 287–100 (74.2%) |
| Career titles | 12 |
| Highest ranking | No. 1 (24 June 2019) |
| Current ranking | No. 1 (9 September 2019) |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| Australian Open | SF (2020) |
| French Open | W (2019) |
| Wimbledon | W (2021) |
| US Open | 4R (2018, 2019) |
| Other tournaments | |
| Tour Finals | W (2019) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 195–63 (75.6%) |
| Career titles | 11 |
| Highest ranking | No. 5 (21 May 2018) |
| Current ranking | No. 27 (14 June 2021) |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| Australian Open | F (2013) |
| French Open | F (2017) |
| Wimbledon | F (2013) |
| US Open | W (2018) |
| Other doubles tournaments | |
| Tour Finals | SF (2018) |
| Mixed doubles | |
| Career record | 7–8 |
| Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |
| Australian Open | 2R (2014) |
| French Open | 1R (2013) |
| Wimbledon | QF (2013) |
| US Open | QF (2014) |
| Team competitions | |
| Fed Cup | F (2019) |
| Hopman Cup | RR (2013, 2019) |
| Last updated on: 14 June 2021. | |
Ashleigh Barty (born 24 April 1996) is an Australian professional tennis player and former cricketer. She is ranked No. 1 in the world in singles by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and is the second Australian singles No. 1 after fellow Indigenous Australian Evonne Goolagong Cawley.[a] She has also been a top 10 player in doubles, having achieved a career-high ranking of No. 5 in the world. Barty has won twelve singles titles and eleven doubles titles on the WTA Tour, including two Grand Slam singles titles, the 2019 French Open and 2021 Wimbledon Championships, and one Grand Slam doubles title at the 2018 US Open with partner CoCo Vandeweghe. She is also the reigning champion in singles at the WTA Finals.
Born in Ipswich, Queensland, Barty began playing tennis at the age of four in nearby Brisbane. She had a promising junior career, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 2 in the world after winning the girls’ singles title at Wimbledon in 2011. As a teenager, Barty had early success in doubles on the WTA Tour in 2013, finishing runner-up at three Grand Slam doubles events with veteran Casey Dellacqua, including at the Australian Open while still only 16 years old. Late in the 2014 season, Barty decided to take an indefinite break from tennis. She ended up playing cricket during this hiatus, signing with the Brisbane Heat for the inaugural Women’s Big Bash League season despite having no formal training in the sport.
Barty returned to tennis in early 2016. She had a breakout year in singles in 2017, winning her first WTA title at the Malaysian Open and rising to No. 17 in the world despite having never been ranked inside the top 100 before her time off. She also had another prolific year in doubles with Dellacqua, culminating in her first appearance at the WTA Finals in doubles. Barty then won her first Premier Mandatory and Grand Slam tournament titles in doubles in 2018 before accomplishing the same feat in singles in 2019. She also led Australia to a runner-up finish at the 2019 Fed Cup.
Barty is an all-court player who employs a wide variety of shots into her style of play. Despite her short stature for a professional tennis player, she is an excellent server, regularly ranking among the WTA Tour’s leaders in aces and percentage of service points won. Barty serves as the National Indigenous Tennis Ambassador for Tennis Australia.
Ashleigh Barty becomes first Australian woman to win Wimbledon single’s title in 41 years
Ashleigh Barty clinched her first Wimbledon title after beating Karolina Pliskova 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 in the women’s final on Saturday.
Top-Ranked Ashleigh Barty Wins Wimbledon
World’s No. 1 women’s tennis player beat Karolina Pliskova to pick up first Wimbledon title
Ashleigh Barty in action at Wimbledon on Saturday.
WIMBLEDON, England—After spending nearly a year back home in Australia, Ashleigh Barty packed her bags in March and flew to Europe with the sole objective of winning more Grand Slam tournaments.
On Saturday, after four straight months on the road, the world’s No. 1 women’s tennis player picked up what she came for. With a dominant performance, Barty blew away Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3, to add her first Wimbledon title to the French Open she won in 2019.
Barty, 25, also became the first Wimbledon women’s singles champion from Australia since her mentor Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980.
Pliskova, a former world No. 1 herself, found it impossible to hide her nerves as she chased a first major title. On the browning grass of Centre Court, she simply froze. Pliskova lost the first 14 points of the match and found herself down by a set in just 28 minutes. When she finally took a point, the capacity crowd in the stadium met her with a huge round of applause.
Ash Barty wins first Wimbledon title in three-set thriller over Karolina Pliskova
Top-ranked Ash Barty won her first Wimbledon title by beating Karolina Pliskova in three sets.
Barty used a fast start to seize the momentum against a shaky Pliskova and then overcame a wobble of her own to win 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3.
The eighth-seeded Pliskova didn’t win a single point in the first three games and then double-faulted on break point to hand Barty a 4-0 lead.
Barty served for the match at 6-5 in the second set but made several forehand errors to let Pliskova back in the match. The Australian then took a 3-0 lead in the third set and held serve the rest of the way.
It is Barty’s second Grand Slam title. She also won the 2019 French Open.
It was Pliskova’s second Grand Slam final. She was runner-up at the 2016 U.S Open.
Wimbledon 2021 women’s final: Ashleigh Barty beats Karolina Pliskova in three sets – live!
Barty crouches down, holding her head in disbelief, before jogging to the net to embrace Pliskova. The crowd are going crazy – Barty holds her head in her hands, looking overwhelmed – she has done it! She is Wimbledon champion and she had to work much harder for that, in the end, than it appeared she would after the first set.
Ash Barty is Wimbledon champion! She defeats Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3
Barty volleys brilliantly for 15-0 but then nets on the next point for 15-15. Pliskova sends a forehand wide – it’s 30-15 – but then finds a fantastic return of serve for 30-30. Then Barty nets a volley which would have forced match point! Pliskova’s return on break point is deep in the corner, but then she goes for the same corner, and misses, back to deuce. Barty hits her seventh ace of the match, for championship point … Pliskova crushes a second-serve return, Barty keeps the point alive, the Czech nets a backhand – and it’s over!
LET THE Barty Party begin – as Australia saw 41 years of tennis hurt erased at Wimbledon.
Ash Barty, the world’s best female tennis star, fulfilled a childhood dream as she lifted the Venus Rosewater Dish on a packed Centre Court.
Tennis fans who stayed up late in her hometown of Ipswich, Queensland watched with enormous pride and disbelief as Barty overcame Czech Karolina Pliskova 6-3 6-7 6-3.
Though she received the trophy from the future Queen of the UK and Commonwealth, it was not exactly a regal performance from the world No.1.
But that will matter little for no-nonsense Barty as she clinched a second tennis slam – and banked a £1.7million cheque – despite five doubles faults and several moments of nervy tennis.
This is the first time an Aussie woman has won on the SW19 lawns since 1980 and it comes 50 years since Evonne Goolagong Cawley’s breakthrough victory, a significant moment for the Aboriginal community.
It is fitting that the pair share a connection through their ingenious roots and Barty has been wearing a scallop-edged dress in honour of her mentor and heroine.
This was the first time since the summer of 1977 – the year Virginia Wade raised the British flag high – that both women were making their debut appearance in a Wimbledon final.
It was 11pm local time on the east coast of Australia when the first serves were struck in anger in south-west London.
And the locals Down Under could not believe their eyes, probably thinking they had drunk far too much Castlemaine XXXX.
Dominant Barty, 25, won the opening 14 POINTS of the match, wooing the crowd with a repertoire of outstanding shots – backhand winners down the line, 104mph aces, even one cheeky lob over the head of Pliskova.
Nerves had visibly affected the frozen Pliskova – in her second major final, she was struggling to find any rhythm and her otherwise excellent serve was malfunctioning.
A double fault gave Barty a 4-0 lead inside 11 minutes and surprised onlookers were consulting the record books for the quickest post-war finals in history.
Though Pliskova, 29, commendably broke back in the fifth game and held serve twice – thereby ensuring she would not be bagelled – solid Barty served out the set in under half an hour.
It was so poor and out-of-character from No8 seed Pliskova that, in front of the watching Hollywood actor Tom Cruise, this was looking more and more like Mission: Impossible.
Yet in the second set, Pliskova started swinging with more freedom, the serve motion improved = notably one 114mph bomb – and her confidence levels soared.
And having forced a second-set tie-break thanks to a key break of serve, Pliskova valiantly forced a third set, albeit when Barty double-faulted on the third set point.
This was the first time since that glorious summer of 2012 when Serena Williams beat Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska that the women’s final had required three sets.
It should have been the platform for an epic comeback for the underdog but the Pliskova errors resurfaced and she soon found herself 3-0 and then 5-2 down.
They thought it was all OVA for Sweet Karolina at this point – and it was when a Pliskova shot crashed into the net.
Barty, the 2011 Wimbledon girls champion at the age of 15, becomes just the fourth woman in the Open Era after Ann Jones, Martina Hingis and Amelie Mauresmo to back up a junior title with the big one.
No doubt any drunk and delirious fans 9,700 miles away were partying long and hard into the night.
Barty broke down in tears and then climbed up to the players’ box like fellow Aussie Pat Cash memorably first did in 1987.
She said: “This is incredible. Everyone in this stadium has made this dream so special.
“I had to keep fighting, she is an incredible fighter and brought out the very best in me.
“It was an exceptional match from the start. I kept chipping away in the third set and held my nerve.
“I cannot remember match point! I didn’t sleep a lot last night, I thought of all the ‘what ifs?’ But when I came out here, I felt at home. To share this with everyone and my team is incredible. We will keep the partying low-key tonight.
“Evonne means a lot. I hope I have made her proud.”
