World number one Ashleigh Barty wins Australian Open women’s singles title after beating Danielle Collins
World number one Ashleigh Barty has won the Australian Open women’s singles title by beating Danielle Collins 6-3 7-6 (2).
Barty’s serve is the foundation of her game, and she had been broken just once in six matches, but that became twice in the second game of the second set as the top seed again paid for not landing more first serves.
Collins chose that moment to unleash one of her trademark yells of ‘Come on’ towards her team, and there was another when she saved two break points in the next game.
Her strong return was almost certainly a factor in the two double faults that saw Barty broken again to trail 5-1.
But the Australian was not finished and found her best form to fight her way back to level at 5-5, and then force a tie-break.
This was an opportunity she was not going to let go and Barty raced into a 6-2 lead before clinching her third grand slam title with a forehand winner.
Both women looked understandably nervous to start with but Barty settled after saving a break point in the fifth game with a whipped forehand.
A double fault from Collins on break point in the next game gave Barty the advantage and she confidently served out the set 6-3.