Newly crowned Australian Open women’s singles champion Ash Barty has maintained her more than two-year grip on the number one ranking after winning her third major title with a straight sets victory over Danielle Collins on Saturday.
Ashleigh Barty was 11 or 12 the first time she attended a final at the Australian Open. As a young player there as part of a training camp, she was amazed by how professional it was and how all of the players were so focused.
Being there sparked something in her.
“Being able to get a taste of that kind of lit the flame,” Barty said earlier this week. “You wonder what you can achieve. You wonder what you can do.”
On Saturday, more than a decade after her first experience at Rod Laver Arena, Barty left herself, and all those watching, little to wonder about as she defeated Danielle Collins, 6-3, 7-6 (2), in the Australian Open final to become the first Australian player, of either gender, to win the singles title in 44 years. As an adoring and vocal crowd looked on, Barty made history.
Ashleigh Barty’s victory at the Australian Open drew huge TV viewership in Australia, becoming the most-watched women’s final since the start of current ratings and one of the top annual broadcasts in the country.
On a weekend where the NFL began to bid farewell to one GOAT, men’s tennis crowned its greatest ever — for the time being at least. Rafael Nadal‘s triumph at the Australian Open puts him at 21 Grand Slam titles, one ahead of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
It’s tennis’ equivalent of being the first to summit Everest, or reach the Challenger Deep – Nadal out on his own, on a level of success no other man has achieved in the sport.
With the 2-6, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 win that started Sunday night and was delayed for a while in the second set when a protester jumped onto the court, Nadal also became just the fourth man in history to win all four of the sport’s major titles at least twice.
At 5 hours and 24 minutes, it was the second longest Australian Open final after Novak Djokovic beat Nadal in five sets in 5 hours and 53 minutes in 2012.
The chase to 21 has been fascinating.
Both Federer (knee injury) and Djokovic (deportation) missed this Australian Open, leaving Nadal the opportunity to go one better. The Nadal we’ve seen in Melbourne is not the same as the previous incarnations of the Spanish great; he’s now in the next stage in his evolution.
The “Special Ks” show at the Australian Open ended on a high after Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis claimed their first major title by defeating compatriots Max Purcell and Matt Ebden in the men’s doubles final on Saturday.
Dubbed the ‘Special Ks’, Kyrgios and Kokkinakis won 7-5 6-4 in front of a lively home crowd on Rod Laver Arena.
It was the first all-Australian men’s doubles final in Melbourne since 1980.
The match completed a memorable day for Australian tennis, after Ashleigh Barty won the women’s singles title.
Top seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova claimed their first Australian Open women’s doubles title as they defeated Anna Danilina and Beatriz Haddad Maia in the final.
The Czech pair fought back from a set down to win 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 6-4 in two hours 42 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
It is a fourth major title for Krejcikova and Siniakova, who were runners-up at the 2021 Australian Open.
France`s Kristina Mladenovic and Croatian Ivan Dodig swept to a 6-3 6-4 victory against local duo Jaimee Fourlis and Jason Kubler to claim the Australian Open mixed doubles crown at Melbourne Park on Friday.
The experienced players saved three of the five break points they faced and won 71% of points behind their first serves.
It is Mladenovic’s second mixed doubles title at Melbourne Park, having won alongside Canada’s Daniel Nestor in 2014, and Dodig’s first.
It is also Dodig’s fourth career mixed doubles trophy and Mladenovic’s third.