Wimbledon 2021: Ashleigh Barty ends Australia's 41-year wait for first women's singles champion at SW19

Top-ranked Ash Barty won her first Wimbledon title by beating Karolina Pliskova in three sets. Barty used a fast start to seize the momentum against a shaky Pliskova and then overcame a wobble of her own to win 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3.

The eighth-seeded Pliskova didn’t win a single point in the first three games and then double-faulted on break point to hand Barty a 4-0 lead.

Barty's 14 straight points won is the most consecutive points won in a Wimbledon ladies final since records started being kept by IBM in 1977.

Previous record was 12, by Serena in the 2015 final vs. Muguruza.

h/t to IBM stats.

— Ravi Ubha (@raviubha) July 10, 2021

Barty served for the match at 6-5 in the second set but made several forehand errors to let Pliskova back in the match. The Australian then took a 3-0 lead in the third set and held serve the rest of the way.

It is Barty’s second Grand Slam title. She also won the 2019 French Open. It was Pliskova’s second Grand Slam final. She was runner-up at the 2016 US Open.

Here are some key stats from Barty's maiden win at the All England Club:

# Ashleigh Barty is the third Australian woman to win Wimbledon singles title in Open Era after Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1971, 1980) and Margaret Court (1970)

# She won the junior Wimbledon title in 2011 and is now the fourth woman to win both junior, senior titles at All England Club: Ann Jones, Martina Hingis and Amélie Mauresmo

# Ashleigh Barty extends her stay as World No 1. She will remain the top ranked player on 12 July for a 77th consecutive week (84th overall). Karolina Pliskova dropped out of the top-10 when Wimbledon started but will jump back in at No 7.

Grass Court Winning % (Active Players)

Serena Williams: 87.7%
Venus Williams: 80.8%
Ashleigh Barty: 78.6%
Kim Clijsters: 76.8%
Petra Kvitova: 74.7%#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/8pAjOYKhAe

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) July 10, 2021

5 years ago, Ash Barty lost in #Wimbledon qualies, having just started her return to tour.

Since the start of 2017, Barty...
- has won more titles than any player: 12
- is 2nd behind Serena in Winning % (76.2%)
- has the highest % of Finals Reached Per Tournament Played: 28.1% pic.twitter.com/LDk8Chxikf

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) July 10, 2021

# Barty is the 11th active player with multiple Grand Slam titles after Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters, Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber, Victoria Azarenka, Simona Halep, Petra Kvitova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Garbine Muguruza

# Barty has now won most matches on tour in 2021. She went level with Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals with the Belarussian losing in the same stage and goes past her now

# This was the first women's final at Wimbledon that went into three sets since 2012 when Serena Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska faced off.

(with inputs from AP)