Ashleigh Barty: Hope I made Evonne proud

Ashleigh Barty 25 won her first Wimbledon title on the 50th anniversary of fellow indigenous Australian Evonne Goolagong Cawleyrsquos maiden crown beating Karolina Pliskova 63 67 47 63 in the final on SaturdayThe Australian who wore a speciallydesigned dress in tribute to Cawleyrsquos iconic scallop one she sported in 1971 adds the Wimbledon crown to her 2019 French Open titleFirst threeset final since rsquo12ldquoIt took me a long time to verbalise to dare to dream it and say itrdquo said Barty ldquoI didnrsquot sleep a lot last night I was thinking of all the whatifs I hope I made Evonne proudrdquo It was the first womenrsquos Wimbledon final to go to three sets since 2012 when Serena Williams beat Polandrsquos Agnieszka Radwanska Barty had looked like cruising to victory after soaring into a 40 lead over her opponentmdashthe Australianrsquos start so blistering that she won the first 14 pointsEvonne Goolagong CawleyHowever Pliskova 29 steadied herself while Barty faltered when she served for the match at 65 in the second set The Czech broke and then swept the tiebreaker to take the final into a deciderBarty got the break for 20 in the final set and despite one or two wobbles she got herself over the line sinking to her knees her hands over her face in disbelief She wiped a couple of tears away before climbing up to the playerrsquos box just like her compatriot Pat Cash did when he won the Wimbledon menrsquos title in 1987lsquoThis is incrediblersquoldquoThis is incrediblerdquo said Barty the third Australian woman to be crowned Wimbledon singles champion in the Open era Cawley and Margaret Court 1970 the othersAlso Read John McEnroersquos comments too harsh TomljanovicldquoI have to start with Kaja Karolina Pliskova ldquoCongratulations on an incredible tournament to you and your team I love testing myself against you and Irsquom sure wersquoll have many many matchesrdquoBarty is masterful at remaining pokerfaced on court and she managed to restrain her emotions largely at the presentation ceremony However once off court she sobbed as she hugged her boyfriend Gary KissickFor Pliskova it was more heartbreak as the former world number one fell at the final hurdle in three sets in the 2016 US Open final At one point with Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise looking on it looked feasible though that she could pull off mission impossible in winning the titleHowever her previously superb weaponmdashher serve that had only been broken four times prior to the finalmdashdeserted her when she most needed it So did her emotions as Pliskova spoke after receiving the runnerup trophy ldquoI never cry never and nowrdquo she said stepping back a bitAlso Read Aussome AshleighThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever