Australian Ash Barty has claimed her maiden Wimbledon title with a 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 victory over Karolina Pliskova at the All England Club.
The 2019 French Open champion won the opening 14 points of the match and served out the opening set on her second attempt as the Czech eighth seed battled nerves on Centre Court.
World No.1 Barty tightened her grip on the championship with her fourth service break of the contest in the third game of the second set before Pliskova briefly wrestled back the momentum.
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Barty steadied and made her move in the 11th game, winning five straight points after trailing 0-40 to break Pliskova’s serve and take a 6-5 lead.
But the top seed was unable to serve out the match and surrendered the tiebreaker, and the second set, with a double fault.
Pliskova’s nerves returned early in the third as she struggled with her ball toss and surrendered an early break with a missed volley to give Barty the early 2-0 lead.
Barty was made to work for every point thereafter but held her nerve to serve out the championship she covets the most on her second attempt.
“Just keep fighting,” Barty said when asked what she told herself at the start of the third set.
“Karolina is a incredible competitor, she brought out the very best in me today and it was an exceptional match right from the start and I knew that I had to bring my very best level.
“I was really proud of myself the way I was able to keep going and keep chipping away at the start of that third set and hold my nerve there in the end.”
The 25-year-old was visibly emotional after sealing victory and emulated 1987 men’s champion Pat Cash by attempting to scale the stands to celebrate with her team.
She is the first Australian woman to win the Wimbledon singles title since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980.
Barty added: “It took me a long time to verbalise the fact that I wanted dare to dream to win this incredible tournament and being able to live out my dream right now with everyone here has just made it better than I ever could have imagined.
“I didn’t sleep a lot last night, I was thinking a lot of what-ifs but I think when I was coming out on this court I felt at home in a way and being able to share that with my team is incredible.”
