Welcome to the Aussie Barty party
Hip hooray: Recovered world No 1 Australian star to face Pliskova in first Wimbledon final for both women
If you told me a month ago we’d be in this position, I wouldn’t have thought we’d even get close.
Ash Barty
It was difficult for Australian Ash Barty to imagine a trip to her first Wimbledon final was just around the corner when she stopped playing at last month’s French Open with a hip injury.
Or even when she was two points from being pushed to a third set by Angelique Kerber in their semifinal at the All England Club.
Barty does not let obstacles trouble her too long. She figures out a way and pushes forward. That’s why she’s ranked No 1 in the world and it’s why she stands one win from a second Grand Slam title after beating 2018 champion Kerber 6-3, 7-6 (3) yesterday.
“I’ve had ups and downs and everything in between, and I wouldn’t change one day or one moment or one, kind of, road that we’ve taken in my path and journey,” said Barty, who was the
2011 junior champion at the All England Club and stepped away from tennis in 2014 for almost two years because of burnout. “It has been unique. It has been incredible. It has been tough. There have been so many things that led to this point.”
Her opponent in tonight’s final will be No 8 seed Karolina Pliskova, who emerged from a power-hitting and serving display to come back to beat No 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka 5-7,
6-4, 6-4.
“Super proud about the way I handled the situation out there,” Pliskova said.
Pliskova produced 14 aces, Sabalenka 18, and the combined total was the most in a women’s match at Wimbledon since they started keeping such stats in 1977. The difference in this match, ultimately: Pliskova was broken just once, Sabalenka twice.
After going zero for eight on break points in the first set, the first set she dropped in six matches, Pliskova “got a bit frustrated,” she acknowledged afterwards.
But she went 1 for 1 in that category in each of the last two sets.
“She just returned like crazy — like, really good — and I couldn’t do anything,” said Sabalenka, the only top-20 seed in the draw without a major quarter-final appearance until now.
Neither Pliskova — whose coach, Sascha Bajin, used to work with Naomi Osaka and was Serena Williams’ hitting partner — nor Barty had ever been past the fourth round at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament. “Coming into this tournament, the dream was to make the second week. Sascha was super confident in me,” said Pliskova, a 29-year-old from the Czech Republic who was runner-up at the 2016 US Open to Kerber and used to be ranked No 1. “He said, ‘I told you, you were going to make the final.”’
The 25-year-old Barty won the 2019 French Open and has been atop the WTA rankings for 18 months.
She is the first woman from Australia to reach the title match at Wimbledon since Evonne Goolagong won in 1980; Barty has been wearing an outfit intended as a tribute to Goolagong this fortnight.
“Now to kind of give myself a chance to create some history, almost in a way that’s a tribute to her, is really exciting,” Barty said.
She arrived in England not having competed since June 3, when she withdrew during her second-round match in Paris, her left hip in too much pain.
“It was going to be touch and go. Everything had to be spot on to give myself a chance to play pain-free,” Barty said. “If you told me a month ago we’d be sitting in this position, I wouldn’t have thought we’d
even get close.”