Wimbledon 2021: Ashleigh Barty fights off Karolina Pliskova to win 2nd Grand Slam singles title

World number one Ashleigh Barty won her maiden Wimbledon singles title. Her only other Grand Slam title happens to be the French Open. Meanwhile, Karolína was playing her maiden Wimbledon final and her second in the Slams, as her wait for the first Slam title continues.

After a hard-fought three-setter finale, reigning world number one Ashleigh Barty of Australia beat Karolína Plíšková of the Czech Republic to win the Wimbledon 2021 title. Despite being the top favourite to win the event, she had to toil hard for it, winning it 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3.

First two sets
Barty was off to a flyer in the opening set, winning the opening four games and winning it 6-3 by serving it out. As for the second, although she led 3-1, Plíšková broke her back while she was serving for the championship, as the Czech showed some resilience to win the tie-breaker and take it to the deciding set.

Deciding set
In the final set, Plíšková gave it all but failed to cover enough ground. Meanwhile, the Australian earned the sole break of the set while she served for the championship. While she faced another break point during the game, she overcame it and brought up her championship point that the Czech netted it through her backhand.

Stats

• Barty is the first Australian to win the title since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980.
• She is the first to win the title as the number one seed since Serena Williams in 2016.
• She is the third in the Open Era (fourth overall) to win a juniors and seniors title at the event after Ann Jones, Martina Hingis and Amélie Mauresmo.
• It is the 12th singles title of Barty’s career and fourth this year.
• She has a 35-6 record this season, while she possesses the most wins by any female player for the season so far.

Reaction
“This is incredible. 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,” said Barty, following her triumph.

“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 onto the Centre Court, I felt at home. And, I hope I made Evonne proud,” she concluded.

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