Australian tennis star Ashleigh Barty made history as she defeated Danielle Collins to lift her third Grand slam in Melbourne on Saturday.
The world number one recovered from 5-1 down in the second set to clinch a 6-3 7-6 (7-2) victory over first-time major finalist Danielle Collins and claim her third Grand Slam title.
Victory for Barty saw her become the first Australia tennis player Male or Female to lift the Australia open since Chris O’Neil in 1978 as well as becoming the only active player other than Serena Williams to have won major titles on three different surfaces.
Barty now just needs the US Open to complete a career Grand Slam having won the French Open in 2019 and Wimbledon last summer.
Fittingly, she received the trophy from her mentor, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, who won the title four times in the 1970s.
This was a huge occasion for Australian sport and among the crowd were two people who could put themselves in Barty’s shoes – Sydney Olympic heroes Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe – as well as Hollywood star Russell Crowe.
Barty, roared on by a partisan home crowd on Rod Laver Arena, started in confident mood against Collins, a two-time NCAA singles champion at Virginia.
Having saved a break point in the fifth game, Barty landed the first blow of the final as the American wilted under intense pressure, landing a double fault to hand the No 1 a 4-2 lead.
Barty consolidated the break before serving out the set with a hold to love, moving halfway to a place in the history books.
Collins only turned pro in 2016 but she came into the match having won their most recent head-to-head match at the Adelaide International last year.
Having rallied from a set down twice already in the tournament, the 28-year-old made a positive start to the second set by breaking Barty’s momentum for a 2-0 lead.
The 27th seed saved two break-back points on her way to holding in the next game before Barty got on the board in the fourth game. However, her game appeared to be disintegrating fast with Collins’ roar reverberating around Rod Laver when she moved into a 5-1 lead and producing the first-strike tennis.
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