Ashleigh Barty captured her first Grand Slam singles title at the French Open on Saturday, with the Australian dropping just four games in a dominant performance over the evidently nervous Marketa Vondrousova on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The build-up to the final was chaotic, with both semifinals taking place yesterday, and with the final delayed by an hour and a half due to the delay in the completion of the men’s semifinal between Dominic Thiem and Novak Djokovic, and when they did get onto court it was Barty who was in complete control from the very beginning, with a tense Vondrousova failing to hold serve in the opening set.
Vondrousova did play better in the second set, playing more freely and creating more issues for the Australian, though an early break for Barty proved to be key, and a final one sealed a 6-1, 6-3 victory in an hour and ten minutes to win the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen.
Barty eases past Vondrousova to win Roland Garros
There were evident signs of nerves early on from Vondrousova, and Barty more than took advantage as she broke twice early on as she eased to a 4-0 lead after just 13 minutes. The Czech managed to get one break back, with Barty herself perhaps a little nervous, though Barty converted a fourth break point at 4-1 to game just a game away from the opening set. The eighth seed came under a little pressure, though a big forehand saw her claim the opener on her second set point in just under half an hour.
After a dominant first set, Barty struck quickly at the beginning of the second, breaking in the opening game and saving a break point as she consolidated for a 2-0 lead, sitting four games away from the title. Vondrousova was able to hold despite facing two break points to stay just one break behind, and held serve twice more as she belatedly found her feet on Chatrier. However, Barty was never threatened on her own serve, and broke for a second time on her first championship point to claim the title.
A lot will be made about the nerves that Vondrousova was evidently suffering from, particularly early on, but credit must be given Barty, who was incredibly composed and handled the tag of being the favorite for this final extremely well. Barty will rise to second in the rankings, just 136 points behind world number one Naomi Osaka, whilst Vondrousova will break the top twenty, and will surely reach more finals in the future.
