World #1 Ash Barty claimed her second career Grand Slam title and first Wimbledon title, defeating Karolina Pliskova 6-3 6-7(4) 6-3 in a topsy turvy final that went to three sets, a final where both players had opportunities, but in the end the Australian Barty made the most of her chances and came out on top.
The 25 year old Barty was playing in just her second career Grand Slam final (won the 2019 French Open), as she famously took a two year hiatus from professional tennis to play professional cricket. She entered the final after playing with incredible confidence in every Wimbledon match thus far and got off to a great start, breaking Pliskova consecutively for a 4-0 first set let that eventually lead to a 6-3 first set win. The set, and the match was defined by Barty’s superior serve and forehand, that Pliskova had trouble breaking down.
Pliskova, who was also playing in just her second ever Grand Slam title match (lost the 2016 US Open final), had never before made a deep run at Wimbledon, but she didn’t let the early nerves knock her entirely out of the match. Barty, the former Wimbledon junior champion, would continue to generate more break point chances and Pliskova found herself down an early break in the second set, but she would break back not once, but twice, as she prevented Barty from serving out the match late in the second set to force a tiebreak, a tiebreak that she converted on her third set point opportunity 7-4.
The third set was a similar story to the first two sets, Barty kept the pressure on, breaking Pliskova early in the set, and then play slightly better in her service games to maintain the advantage. Pliskova would not generate another chance to get back into the match as Barty played a strong set of tennis and refused to lose.
The 29 year old former world #1 Pliskova now has her sights set on once again returning to the top 5 and consistently playing the elite level of tennis that she’s clearly capable of, most of all she will want to claim her first career Grand Slam title after dropping to 0-2 in Grand Slam finals.
Barty retains her world #1 ranking, and has the game, and the motivation to potentially go on a massive run and win both the US Open and her home slam, the Australian Open in consecutive fashion. Barty’s achievement at Wimbledon mirrors the run 50 years ago of fellow Australian indigenous tennis champion Evonne Goolagong Cawley.
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