World No1 Ashleigh Barty beat Karolina Pliskova in three sets to win the women’s singles title at Wimbledon.
Barty won 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 in the final on Centre Court to become the first Australian women to win the Wimbledon title since her idol Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980.
In what was the first time since 1977 that both women were playing in a Wimbledon final for the first time, Barty and Pliskova both struggled with nerves during a tense match.
Barty took a one-sided first set but Czech eighth seed Pliskova battled back back to take the second set 7-4 in a tie break.
But on the 50th anniversary of her idol Goolagong Cawley’s maiden win at Wimbledon in 1971, Barty took the deciding set to win her second Grand Slam title to add to her victory at the 2019 French Open.
It is a remarkable triumph for the 25-year-old, who might not even have been fit to play at the All England Club after she retired from her second-round match at Roland Garros last month with a hip injury and did not play any warm-up tournaments on grass.
Barty said: “Being able to live out my dream, it is better than I ever could imagined. I hope I made Evonne proud.
“Karolina is an incredible competitor and brought out the very best in me. It was an exceptional match and I knew that I had to bring my very best level.
“I was proud of the way I was able to keep going, keep chipping away at the start of that third set and hold my nerve there at the end.”
