Australian Ashleigh Barty has beaten Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova in the French Open final to win her first Grand Slam singles title and complete a fairytale return to the sport.
The eighth seed won 6-1 6-3 against 19-year-old Vondrousova on the Paris clay.
Barty, 23, quit tennis to play professional cricket in 2014, but returned to the sport 17 months later.
Now she is the first Australian to win a singles titles at Roland Garros since Margaret Court in 1973.
After thumping away an overhead on her first match point, Barty turned to her team and raised her hands in the air, placing them on her head in disbelief before dropping to her haunches on the red dirt.
“It is unbelievable, I’m a little speechless, I played almost the perfect match,” Barty said.
“It has been a crazy two weeks.
“It is a special place here for Australian players and I’m incredibly proud of what I’ve been able to achieve.”
Barty will climb to second in the world when the latest standings are released next week, making her the highest-ranked Australian woman since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in December 1976.
Despite defeat, 38th-ranked Vondrousova will rise into the top 20 for the first time following a clay-court swing where no other female player has won more matches.
Credit : BBC
Picture Credit : Google
