Ashleigh Barty of Ipswich, Australia is in her second grand slam singles final. On Thursday, she defeated three-time grand slam champion, and the 25th seed, Angelique Kerber of Germany, 6-3, 7-6. Barty will now face 2016 United States Open finalist Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the women’s singles final on Saturday. Pliskova defeated the number two seed, Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Barty, who won the 2019 French Open final, will now be facing a Czech player for a second time in a grand slam final. Two years ago, she defeated Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-3 at Roland Garros. In Thursday’s win over Kerber, the ace statistic was a major reason for Barty’s victory. Barty had eight aces, while Kerber had zero.
The fact that Barty beat a three-time grand slam champion, should give her a lot of confidence heading into her first Wimbledon final. Kerber previously won the 2016 Australian Open, 2016 United States Open, and 2018 Wimbledon titles.
Pliskova meanwhile is in her second grand slam final, and first with Sascha Bajin as her coach. She previously reached the 2016 United States Open final, where she lost to Kerber, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Pliskova is the first women’s player to win a semifinal after losing the first set since Vera Zvonareva of Russia in 2010. Zvonareva lost the first set 6-3 to Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria, before winning 6-3, 6-2.
Head-t0-head, Barty has the 5-2 advantage over Pliskova. Barty’s wins came in the semifinals of the 2012 Nottingham Challenge, the quarterfinals of the 2017 Wuhan Open, the final of the 2019 Miami Open, the semifinals of the 2019 WTA Finals in Shenzhen, and the quarterfinals of the 2021 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. Pliskova’s wins came in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Nottingham Open, and the fourth round of the 2018 U.S. Open.
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