Ash Barty beats Angelique Kerber to reach Wimbledon women’s final vs. Karolina Pliskova

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LONDON – It might have been hard for Ash Barty to imagine a trip to the Wimbledon final was so close when she stopped playing at the French Open last month with a thigh injury.

Or even when she was two points away from being pushed into the third set by Angelique Kerber in the semi-finals at the All England Club.

Barty doesn’t let obstacles bother her for too long. She finds a way. That’s why she ranked first and now holds one win from her second Grand Slam title after defeating 2018 champion Kerber 6-3, 7-6 (3) on Thursday.

“I’ve had ups and downs and everything in between, and I’m not going to change one day or one moment or one, sort of, the route we took on my way and my journey,” said Barty, who was in 2011. A budding All England Club champion who took a break from tennis for about two years starting in 2014 due to exhaustion. “It was unique. It was unbelievable. It was difficult. There were so many things that made it to this point.”

Her opponent in Saturday’s final will be 8th seed Karolina Pliskova, who exited a power-and-serve show to return to defeat second seed Aryna Sabalenka 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

Pliskova produced 14 aces, Sabalenka 18. The difference: Pliskova broke once, Sabalenka twice.

Having scored a 0-for-8 break in the first set, the first set in which she fell in six matches, Pliskova “felt a little frustrated,” she then admitted.

But she went 1 for 1 in that category in each of the last two sets.

“It was very important to stay in the game and stay focused,” said Pliskova, whose coach Sasha Bajin used to work with Naomi Osaka and was Serena Williams’ hitting partner. “That’s what I did.”

Neither she nor Barty had made it past the fourth round of the Grand Slam on grass.

Pliskova, a 29-year-old from the Czech Republic, was the 2016 US Open runner-up to three-time main champ Kerber and used to be number one.

The 25-year-old Barty won the 2019 French Open and is currently number one and is the first woman from Australia to reach the Wimbledon title since Yvonne Gulagong won the title in 1980.

“Now, to kind of give myself a chance to create some history, almost in a way that’s meant to honor her, it’s really exciting,” said Parti, who was wearing a costume meant to honor Golagong this week.

Barty has arrived in England unchallenged since June 3, when she withdrew during her second round match in Paris, in too much pain to continue.

“To be honest, everything had to be spot on. Everything had to be spot on to give myself a chance to play without pain and play knowing I could trust my body,” Barty said. “If you had told me a month ago that we were going to sit in this position, I wouldn’t have really thought we would come close.”

On Thursday, she faced a major test in the second set, with Kerber two points out of possession when Barty served up at Deuce while trailing 5-2. The crowd was in full support of the 33-year-old German’s comeback efforts as well, with shouts of “Come on, Angie!” and “Come on, Kerber!”

But Barty held her own for stability, then broke to hit 5-4 with a cross forehand.

This was part of the 38-16 advantage in overall winners for Barty, responsible more than anything else for her victory. And this was cool: I collected so many point-ending shots while making only 16 unintentional mistakes.

“Awesome level, best level I’ve played in some time,” said Barty. “Angie is an incredible competitor. She brought out my best today.”

It was somewhat entertaining, and from point to point, even competition, two talented peasant players were willing to try an air volley, volley, or corner kick when needed. Both were equal in long exchanges – in total, 22 points took at least nine strikes, and Kerber earned twelve points.

But their approaches are different. Kerber is a left-handed flat-footed player who is quite good at handling opponent’s low shots, often dropping a knee on the lawn for pressure.

Barty is a right-hander who relies on heavy topcycling for a power-packed forehand, and her slide backhand can produce tricky bounces on the grass.

She ended up with an 8-0 aces and 18-9 in the forehand win.

“I was trying to play my game,” Kerber said. “But she always had a good answer.”

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