World No.1, Ashleigh Barty made history by winning her first-ever Wimbledon Grand Slam title after defeating fellow debutant finalist, Karolina Pliskova, in three sets on Saturday.
Barty becomes the first female Wimbledon singles champion since her inspiration, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, 41 years ago, according to Wimbledon’s official site.
Sky Sports reports that the 25-year-old Aussie stunned her Czech Republic opponent 6-3 6-7 (7-4) 6-3 in a rollercoaster women’s singles final to lift the prestigious Venus Rosewater dish on Centre Court.
The match between Barty who won Roland-Garros in 2019, and Pliskova, a US Open finalist in 2016, is the first ladies’ final to go to a third set since 2012, and only the second in 15 years.
“This is incredible,” she said before congratulating Pliskova. “At the start of the third I told myself to just keep fighting. She’s an incredible competitor, and she brought out the best in me. It was an exceptional match and I’m really proud that I was able to bring my best level, reset, just keep chipping away and hold my nerve at the end. I can’t thank my team enough, sacrificing their time and energy into my dream.
“Match point? I can’t remember it! Being able to live out my dream with everyone here has made it better than I could ever have imagined. I didn’t sleep a lot last night thinking of all the what-ifs, but coming out on to the Centre Court, I felt at home. And I hope I made Evonne proud.”
