Wimbledon: The new Australian women's champion praises her mentor for winning the title
Ashleigh Barty was overwhelmed winning her first Wimbledon title against Karolina Pliskova, breaking the 41-year hiatus for Australian women's tennis.
An emotional Ash Barty said she hoped she had done Evonne Goolagong Cawley after realizing her dream of winning Wimbledon with a battling defeat of Karolina Pliskova.
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The world number one became the first Australian woman to be crowned champion at the All England Club since her mentor Goolagong Cawley 41 years ago with a 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 victory.
Barty won the opening 14 points of the match as she handled the nerves better than eighth seed Pliskova on Saturday.
Pliskova fought back from a break down twice to win the second set, but the top seed regrouped to claim a second grand slam title two years after her first at the French Open.
The Queensland native is only the fourth junior Wimbledon champion to go on and win the women's title and her triumph came 50 years after Goolagong Cawley's maiden success at SW19.
An emotional Barty said in her on-court interview: "This is incredible. I have to start with Kaja [Pliskova]. Congratulations on an incredible tournament to you and your team. I love testing myself against you and I'm sure we'll have many many matches.
"I want to thank everyone in this stadium. You've made my dream so special, thank you very much.
"My team is incredible and they've been with me every step of the way, and for them to be able to travel with me and essentially be away from home for eight or nine months.
"Craig [her coach Tyzzer] is our captain. He is exceptional at what he does and I love him to death.
"It took me a long time to verbalize, to dare to dream it and say it. I didn't sleep a lot last night, I was thinking of all the what-ifs. I hope I made Evonne proud."
It was a second defeat in a major final for former world number one Pliskova, who was also beaten in the 2016 US Open championship match.