Ash Barty has become the first Australian woman in the last 42 years to reach the finals stage of the Australian Open.
Barty is currently one victory closer to becoming the only Australian after Chris O’Neil in 1978 to take home the Australian Open. In addition, for Barty the idol of her Evonne Goolagong was the winner the year prior in 1977.
After taking down the tall American Madison Keys 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 in just over an hour the world No.1 reached the final where she will try to win her third grand Slam title in addition to winning her Wimbledon as well as French Open wins.
Clinical Barty storms into Australian Open final
“It’s unbelievable, it’s amazing,” Barty said after her victory.
“I enjoy this tournament. being in Australia we have a lot to be thankful for by our grand slam nations, getting the chance to play to win a title in your home is a dream.”
The same day, two Australian male teams made it through to the finals of the doubles the the new Australian award winner Dylan Alcott played his last match while Barty made it to the final. It was Australia Day that had changed the date.
Barty told her she needed to get her focus back and concentrate on her game after becoming emotional after watching the speech of Alcott’s thanks for finishing second in the competition.
“We were crying, and I had to get out and get dressed,” she said.
A bandage was placed on the abdominal side on the left Barty showed no sign of restrictions or discomfort, except when she was performing kick serves, when she is likely to be limited.
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A huge Rod Laver Arena crowd could not have been a better contrast to the doubles match between Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis that was a purposefully humorous Adam Sandler version of tennis.
A. Australian number one in the world. 1 was a bulldozer in the opening game against former US Open finalist, breaking serve in the first game. As she fought the challenge of defending a break serving, Barty was able to get through it in less than 30 minutes, losing only one game.
Barty had dropped just 17 games to reach the semi-finals. In just the ten sets she played,, her combined opponents won only 17 games. She was a single drop in her service game during those five games. This isn’t being pushed to the limit.
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