Ash Barty will no longer need to overthink the 1970s when she prepares for the Australian Open.
The top-ranked Barty recovered from 5-1 down in the second set to beat Danielle Collins 6-3, 7-6 (2) in the final on Saturday night, ending a 44-year drought for Australian women at their home Grand Slam tournament.
The pressure is off the 25-year-old Aussie, who has made a remarkable career comeback after taking time off — missing every Grand Slam tournament in 2015 and ’16 — and briefly flirting with taking up a professional cricket career after three first-round exits at the majors in 2014.
The usually reserved Barty let out a yell of sheer delight when she finally ensured she was the first Australian singles champion here since Chris O’Neil won the women’s title in 1978.
“Yeah, it was a little bit surreal,” she said from Melbourne. “I didn’t quite know what to do or what to feel, and I think just being able to let out a little bit of emotion, which is a little bit unusual for me, and being able to celebrate with everyone who was there in the crowd, the energy was incredible tonight.”
WATCH | Barty ends Australian drought with final victory:
Ashleigh Barty wins Australian Open title to end Australia’s 44-year drought
4 hours ago
Duration 2:43
World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty defeated Danielle Collins 6-3, 7-6 (2) to win the Australian Open women’s single title. The victory marked the first win by an Australian at the competition since Chris O’Neil in 1978. 2:43
Barty now has Grand Slam singles titles on three surfaces, adding the hard court at Melbourne Park to her win on grass at Wimbledon last year and on clay at the 2019 French Open. She joins Serena Williams as the only active players on the women’s tour with majors on all three surfaces.
“This is just a dream come true for me,” the 25-year-old Barty said. “I’m just so proud to be an Aussie.”
Evonne Goolagong Cawley, a tennis icon with seven Grand Slam singles titles and a trailblazer for Indigenous athletes from Australia, was a surprise guest to present the champion’s trophy to Barty, who is part of a new generation of Indigenous stars.
‘So much love’
O’Neil was involved in the night, too, after carrying the trophy into the stadium for the pre-match ceremony.
“I’m an incredibly fortunate and lucky girl to have so much love in my corner,” Barty said, thanking her coach and support team, her family, the tournament organizers and the crowd.
Barty hadn’t dropped a set and had only conceded one service game through six matches, against American Amanda Anisimova in the fourth round.
The 28-year-old Collins was the fourth American to take on Barty in four consecutive rounds. Barty had beaten Anisimova, Jessica Pegula and 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys in straight sets.
Collins had spent more than four hours longer on court than Barty in her previous six matches, having to come back from a set and break down to beat Danish teenager Clara Tauson in the third round and rally from a set down to beat Elise Mertens in the fourth.
Barty took the first set after saving a break point in the fifth game and then breaking in the next.
Not to be outdone, Collins hit back quickly, unloading with her powerful ground strokes and relying on her high-intensity game, breaking Barty’s serve in the second and sixth games to take a 5-1 lead.
Collins twice served for the set and twice was within two points of leveling the match and taking her first Grand Slam final to a deciding set.
Boisterous crowd
She led 30-0 in the seventh game of the set, but started to lose momentum when Barty jumped on a second serve and sent a return winner down the line. Another forehand winner just caught the baseline and then Barty got a breakpoint chance with another powerful forehand.
Collins went to the chair umpire to complain about people making noise during the point and got booed heavily by the crowd. The umpire asked fans to refrain from shouting during play, as a courtesy to both players.
When Collins hit a backhand wide to drop the game, she got another loud boo from the crowd.
Barty picked up the energy from an almost full house in Rod Laver Arena, despite government restrictions on ticket sales in the COVID-19 pandemic.
She won five of the next six games to force a tiebreaker and then took control by racing to a 4-0 lead.
“As an Aussie, the most important part of this tournament is being able to share it with so many people,” Barty said. “This crowd is one of the most fun I’ve ever played in front of. You relaxed me, forced me to play my best tennis.”
Barty had reached the quarter-finals at her home major in the three previous years and was the top seed for the third straight year, but her best run until Saturday at Melbourne Park was a semifinal loss to eventual champion Sofia Kenin in 2020. The pressure of home expectations had taken a toll in the past. This time, she said, she was just rolling with it.
There were pockets of fans in gold shirts with Barty printed on the front in red, mimicking the logo of Vegemite, the famous Australian condiment. Other fans wore the canary yellow shirt of the national World Cup-winning limited-overs cricket team — a nod to one of Barty’s other sporting passions.
Australian flags and the red, black and yellow Aboriginal flag were waved around the crowd. Cathy Freeman, who draped both flags around her to celebrate her gold medal in the 400 meters at the Sydney 2000 Olympics — one of the defining images of those Games — was sitting adjacent to the baseline in Rod Laver Arena in full support.
Barty congratulated Collins and told her she “absolutely” belonged in the Top 10, adding: “I know you’ll be fighting for many of these in future.”
The run to the final was the best at a Grand Slam so far for Collins, who reached the semifinals in Australia in 2019 and the quarter-finals at Roland Garros.
She paid tribute to her longtime mentor Marty Schneider and her boyfriend Joe Vollen, who were in the stands for support.
“Thank you for believing in me,” she said, crying. “I haven’t had a ton of people believing me in my career. To support me every step of the way means everything to me.”
‘Special Ks’ win men’s doubles title
Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis — he so-called Special Ks — have won the Australian Open men’s doubles title with a 7-5, 6-4 win over fellow Australians Matt Ebden and Max Purcell.
The victory was the first by a home pairing at Melbourne Park since Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge — widely known as the Woodies — in 1997.
Kyrgios and Kokkinakis entered the tournament on a wild card and became heavy crowd favourites as they took out seeded teams from the second round to the semifinals.
They received the winners trophy from Woodforde and Woodbridge.
“I don’t know how we’re doing this, to be perfectly honest,” said Kyrgios, who lost in the second round of the singles draw to U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev.
TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
