London: Top seed Ashleigh Barty became the first Australian woman to reach the Wimbledon singles final for 41 years after beating Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-3, 7-6(3) on Thursday.The 25-year-old will now aim to emulate Evonne Goolagong, who won the second of her two Wimbledon crowns in 1980. After saving a break point in a nervy opening game on Centre Court, World No.1 Barty was supreme in the first set.
Kerber hit back in the second set and looked poised to take it to the decider when serving at 5-3. But, Barty got back in the groove and broke to love. Kerber’s game went off in the tie-break, with Barty surging to a 6-0 lead. Despite missing out on three match points, she was never going to let her opportunity slip.
In the decider, Barty will meet Karolina Pliskova, who also reached her maiden Wimbledon final after coming back from a set down to beat second seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
The Czech goes into the final looking to capture her first Slam title, having reached only one other decider when she finished runner-up to Kerber at the 2016 US Open.