Barty makes it to the Wimbledon final

Ashleigh Barty booked her place in a first Wimbledon final with an impressive straight sets win over Angelique Kerber.

The world No. 1 needed less than an hour and a half to defeat her opponent 6-3 7-6.

Barty’s victory made her the first Australian woman to reach the Wimbledon singles final since her idol, Evonne Goolagong, won here in 1980.

Interestingly, Barty reached her first Wimbledon final, 10 years after being crowned junior champion.

Barty, who is still yet to drop a set at these championships, demonstrated her powerful hitting mixed with soft touches around the net and her well-rounded game proved too much for her opponent.

There were some nerves on display from Barty though.

She needed four match points to eventually dispatch her unrelenting opponent after having led 6-0 in the tie breaker in the second set.

“It’s incredible, it was as close to as good a tennis match that I have ever played,” said Barty who fired eight aces and 38 winners. 

Pliskova reaches final

Barty will face Karolina Pliskova in Saturday’s final after the Czech defeated Aryna Sabalenka 5-7 6-4 6-4 in a Wimbledon thriller.

The Czech reached the second Grand Slam final of her career, and the first since 2016, after staging a remarkable fightback over the No. 2 seed.

Pliskova had never been beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon but showed great resilience.

She had lost the 2016 US Open and is the first Czech finalist since Petra Kvitova won her second title in 2014.

Pliskova paid a tribute to her opponent Sabalenka.

“She plays so fast. I didn’t have time to think about what I needed to do. She’s super powerful.”

Kerber, a Wimbledon winner back in 2018, looked on course to the level the match but was broken to love in emphatic fashion as she served for the second set.