Barty wins 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 to seal second grand slam titleAustralian was ‘touch and go’ before the tournamentThere was nothing in the world that was going to stop Ashleigh Barty from taking the
Wimbledon title she had arrived on these shores to claim. Not the weight of the moment that so nearly toppled her, nor the force of history amidst a run inspired by her mentor and idol, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, whose influence even spread to the scallop-patterned dress she wore, and not even the formidable, resilient opponent across the net.
She won her second grand slam title by riding her nerves in a desperately tense contest between two world number ones, recovering after failing to serve out the match before beating Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3 to become the first
Australian woman, a deeply proud Indigenous woman, to win Wimbledon since Goolagong Cawley in 1980. Exactly 50 years on from Goolagong Cawley’s maiden Wimbledon title, here she stands as the most fitting successor imaginable.