The 25-year-old Barty now has major 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 French Open in 2019.
Ash Barty didn’t drop a set on the way to her Australian Open title. AP
Ash Barty has won the Australian Open final 6-3, 7-6 (2) over Danielle Collins to end a 44-year drought for Australian women at their home Grand Slam tournament.
Barty won the first set with one service break but was down 5-1 in the second set after dropping serve in the second and sixth games. Collins had two chances to serve for the set but was broken both times.
Barty dominated after taking the set to a tiebreaker, racing to a 4-0 lead.
Barty was the first Australian woman into the singles final of the Australian Open since Wendy Turnbull in 1980 and is now the first Australian champion since Chris O’Neil in 1978.
The 25-year-old Barty now has major 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 French Open in 2019.
Stats from Barty’s triumph:
# Barty has ended Australia’s wait for a local women’s champion. By reaching the final, she became the first Aussie in the last match of the tournament since 1980. And by winning the title, she has become the first Aussie since Chris O’Neil in 1978 to lift the title – ending a 44 year wait
# Barty has now beaten six Americans in a row including four at the Australian Open. Her run to the title took down Amanda Anisimova, Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys and Collins in the final. In the process, she has improved her record over the Americans at the Slams to 14-7. Her last defeat to a player from the US came last year when she was beaten by Shelby Rogers in Flushing Meadows.
# Barty has now won 12 of her past 14 finals, with ten of those victories coming in straight sets. She went the entirety of Australian Open without conceding a set
# Barty now holds a 11-0 win-loss record in 2022. She started the year by winning the title in Adelaide and has added the Australian Open to her trophy count
# Barty has won all three Grand Slam finals she has progressed to. She won the 2019 French Open, 2021 Wimbledon and now the 2022 Australian Open
# Barty joins Serena Williams as one of only two active player to win Slams on all three surfaces
# Barty came into the final having conceded just 21 games. No one except Serena Williams (16 at 2013 US Open, 19 at 2021 US Open) and Venus Williams (20 at 2009 Wimbledon) had dropped as few on way to a Slam final. The record for fewest games conceded en route Slam title stands at: Martina Navratilova (19 at 1983 US Open, 25 at 1983 Wimbledon), Steffi Graf (20 at 1988 French Open, 24 at 1989 Australian Open) and Chris Evert (26 apiece at 1981 Wimbledon, 1977 US Open and 1982 US Open). In the end, Barty dropped 30 games
# Barty had won 46 of her 47 service games this fortnight coming into the final. On Saturday, she conceded serve twice for a collective 55 from 58 service games
# Barty will continue to hold the No 1 spot in the rankings. Next week will be her 113th at the summit, just four behind Justine Henin in seventh place on the all-time list
# Collins will catapult into the top-10 rankings for the first time and become the new American No 1 when the rankings are published on Monday. She will replace Sofia Kenin as the top American.
(with inputs from AP)
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