Barty into first Wimbledon final after classic win over Angelique Kerber
Ashleigh Barty reached her first Wimbledon final with a 6-3, 7-6 win over 2018 champion Angelique Kerber on Centre Court this afternoon.
It was billed as a potential classic, and that’s exactly how it panned out.
It was a nervous start from the world number one who served a double fault on the first point of the match. But she fought back from 15-40 down with two lovely shots – a forehand pass and a powerful forehand drive-volley to take the game.
And she quickly raced into a 3-0 lead, breaking the German in her first service game after reading a Kerber overhead and then holding serve.
Kerber was rattled by the Aussie’s fast start and began to hit simple balls long, giving Barty a chance for a double break.
But Kerber is made of strong stuff and fought back to hold.
Barty was beginning to show the Centre Court crowd just why she is the world number one, and good net play and two aces helped her take command of the set at 4-1.
Kerber’s serve was holding out at this stage but Barty was in no mood to let her lead slip. A combination of the number one seed using her power and finding the angles with finesse gave her a 5-2 lead – and although Kerber held for 3-5 and worked a break point for herself in Barty’s next service game, the Aussie served out the set with an ace to take it 6-3.
Barty plays with a smile on her face, and looked genuinely surprised when she was asked after the match how she could enjoy such tense occasions.
This is her best showing at the All England Club by quite some distance, beating her last-16 appearance in 2019.
But she will be disappointed with anything other than going home with the Venus Rosewater Dish on Sunday – and now only the winner of the match between Aryna Sabalenca and Karolina Pliskova, which follows, stands in her way.
In the second set the German began to show her real quality, Kerber holding for 1-0 and giving a roar as she took the first point of the next game, the crowd appearing to mainly be behind the German.
Kerber sensed a chance and pounced. She led 0-40 on Barty’s first service game of the second set, and although the Aussie fought back to 30-40, she hit a simple enough forehand wide to give the Kerber her first break of serve for 2-0.
Barty appeared momentarily to have been rattled, with the German taking a 3-0 lead in the set.
She registered her first game of the set to trail 1-3 before a fortunate net cord gave her a 15-30 lead on Kerber’s serve, but the German fought back and hit a fine passing shot to take the game to deuce, before seeing out the game for 4-1.
Two service holds took it to 5-2 to Kerber, but from there on the number one seed found another gear, taking three swift games for 5-5.
After two more holds the match was into a tie-break. Barty rushed into a 6-0 lead, and although Kerber fought back to 6-3, the lead was just too big and the Aussie prevailed to Sunday’s final.
Pictured top: Ashleigh Barty, right, embraces Angelique Kerber after their ladies’ singles semi-final on day 10 of Wimbledon at The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (Picture: PA)