It was almost too cruel.
Having fought her way back into a match in which she had missed countless early opportunities, Angelique Kerber had been slowly reeled in by Ashleigh Barty. A 5-2 lead had been wiped out and now Barty, already one set to the good, was a point away from levelling the second. Kerber launched herself at a forehand return, sending the ball back flat and deep, but Barty crouched low on the grass, using the strength in her legs to absorb the German’s power and redirect the ball down the line for a winner.
It was a dagger through the heart for Kerber, precisely the kind of bold, improvised shot that not so long ago carried the German to three grand slam titles and the world No 1 ranking, and it signalled the beginning of the end for her attempt to reach a third Wimbledon final. Top dog status belongs to Barty now, and having out-Kerbered Kerber the top seed held firm to become the first Australian woman to reach the final since her friend and mentor Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980.
How Barty wanted this 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory. The humble Australian rarely makes public declarations about her ambitions, but Wimbledon is the prize she covets above all others and she has not been afraid to say so. The design of her outfit this year pays tribute to the scallop-hemmed dress worn by Goolagong Cawley when she won the first of her two titles at the All England Club, but that sartorial salute would pale into insignificance were she to mark the occasion with a first Wimbledon crown, a decade after she won the junior title in SW19.
“This is incredible,” said Barty, who will face Karolina Pliskova in Saturday’s final after the Czech beat Aryna Sabalenka 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. “This is close to as good a match as I will ever play. Angie definitely brought the best out of me today and it was a hell of a match right from the first ball and I knew it was going to have to be that good just to compete with her, so I’m incredibly proud of myself and my team. Now I get a chance on Saturday to try and live out a total dream.”
As Serena Williams, Petra Kvitova and Garbiñe Muguruza can attest, it has not been a good Wimbledon for former champions. But experience still counts for something at the All England Club and Kerber, who won the title against Serena Williams three years ago after losing to the American in the 2016 final, is one of the finest grass-courters of her generation. The German, seeded 25th, has struggled since reaching that pinnacle, but she reached the last four with 10 consecutive wins under her belt after winning the title in Bad Homburg in the build-up to Wimbledon. Barty knew she would have her work cut out against a player who, as she remarked beforehand, “doesn’t give you cheapies”.
From the outset, the former French Open champion used her power and variety to keep Kerber off balance, limiting her counter-punching opponent’s opportunities to create the acute angles on which she thrives. A curious first set was dominated by Barty despite her repeated struggles on serve. The tone was set as early as the first game, where the Australian opened with a double fault and was forced to save two break points before clawing her way back with some powerful serving and big forehands. Barty broke in the next game, firing a precise forehand winner down the line off a Kerber overhead, and from there the first-set momentum was firmly with the Australian. Time and again, Kerber made early inroads in her opponent’s service games only to be denied as Barty produced a barrage of big serves and crunching forehands, leavening the mix with some biting sliced backhands and deft drop shots.
The German began the second set in a different key, showing greater urgency and aggression to claim an early break. She served for the set at 5-3 but was broken to love, Barty finding the baseline with an overhead before sealing the game with a whipped forehand pass. Kerber clung on to force a tiebreak but quickly fell 6-0 behind, finally succumbing on the fourth match point as Barty, who struck 38 winners in all, saluted an unforgettable victory.
“She is a really intelligent player and she knows how to play also with her slice, and then she’s going forward with her forehand,” said Kerber. “She really served well today. You see that she has a lot of confidence, that she played a lot of big matches, that she’s the No 1 player in the world right now. But for me it was important to give everything I had on court. She had always, like in the important moment, the better answer.”