Barty time! Australian wins Wimbledon title
No. 1 Ash Barty claims second major
WIMBLEDON, England — Everything came so easily for Ash Barty at the start of the Wimbledon final. Hard to believe one player would grab the first 14 points of a major championship match.
Surely, it couldn’t stay that onesided, right? Of course not.
Still, Barty used that perfect start and a strong-enough finish to get the job done, holding off Karolina Pliskova’s comeback bid to win 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3 at the All England Club on Saturday for her second Grand Slam title.
“It took me a long time to verbalize the fact that I wanted to dare to dream it and say I wanted to win this incredible tournament. … I didn’t sleep a lot last night. I was thinking of all the ‘What-ifs,’” the No. 1-ranked Barty said. “But I think when I was coming out on this court, I felt at home, in a way.”
She adds this trophy to the one she won at the French Open in 2019.
Barty is the first Australian woman to win Wimbledon since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980. Barty was a teenager when they first met and she considers Goolagong Cawley an inspiration
and a mentor.
“Evonne is a very special person in my life,” said Barty, whose outfit was a tribute to the dress Goolagong Cawley wore when she won the tournament for the first time, 50 years ago. “I think she has been iconic in paving a way for young indigenous youth to believe in their dreams and to chase their dreams. She’s done exactly that for me as well.”
Barty, 25, was the Wimbledon junior champion a decade ago, then left the tennis tour for nearly two years in 2014 because of burnout. She played professional cricket back home, then eventually returned to her other sport.
She was at her best at the beginning of each set against the eighth-seeded Pliskova, a 29-yearold from the Czech Republic with a big serve.
Pliskova dropped to 0-2 in major finals; she also was runner-up at the 2016 U.S. Open.
“Horrible start,” said Pliskova, a former No. 1. “That’s why I’m more, like, proud about the way (I found) a way back in that match.”
She trailed by a set and a break in the second, and Barty served for the victory at 6-5.
But Barty sailed consecutive
forehands long to get broken, then ceded the tiebreaker with a double-fault.
“She dug deep,” Barty said, “and found a way to claw herself back into the match.”
In the first Wimbledon women’s final to go three sets since 2012, Barty went up 3-0 in the decider and never relented.
With an audience that included Prince William and his wife, Kate, and actor Tom Cruise, the match was played under a cloud-filled sky at Centre Court. Because of
the threat of showers, Barty and Pliskova shared a warmup session under the closed roof at No. 1 Court earlier in the day.
They smiled and chatted during the coin toss before the final, but once things got serious, Barty didn’t mess around.
WOMEN’S DOUBLES: Hsieh Suwei of Taiwan and Elise Mertens won the title Saturday after saving two match points against Russian duo Veronika Kudermetova and Elena Vesnina.
The third-seeded Hsieh and
Mertens won 3-6, 7-5, 9-7 on Centre Court. They clinched the third set when Hsieh hit a backhand winner to break Vesnina’s serve.
It was the third Wimbledon doubles title for Hsieh, all with different partners..
MEN’S DOUBLES: Croatian duo Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic lived up to their billing as the world’s top doubles team by winning Wimbledon to secure their biggest win of a dominant season. The top-seeded pair beat Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-4, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-5 late Saturday under the roof on Centre Court.
MEN’S SINGLES: The man standing between Novak Djokovic and a record-tying 20th Grand Slam title, Matteo Berrettini, remembers being wowed by Wimbledon when he played in the junior event as a teenager.
“For me, it was just absurd. I asked myself, ‘Who knows if one day I’ll return and play in the main tournament, even just in qualifying? I have no idea.’ And now I’m in the final,” Berrettini, now 25 said, then laughed at the thought of it all.
“But what’s beautiful … is that I’m much more aware of what I can do now. I know I can do this, because I’m here.”
That he is. On Sunday, the No. 1-seeded Djokovic’s 30th major final will be No. 7 seed Berrettini’s first.