By Norielle Pastor

PHOTO: Getty Images

It was a day to remember for Australia as Ashleigh Barty ended a 44-year drought.

The No.1 ranked Barty captured the biggest victory of her career as she outdueled tough American Danielle Collins, 6-3, 7-6 to be the first Aussie since Chris O'Neil to win the Australian Open in front of a jam-packed Rod Laver arena, yesterday. 

The 25-year old Barty came to the tournament and dominated her way to the finals– never losing a set in the elimination rounds, before maintaining her punishing serves that sealed her the title. 

In the first set, Barty easily closed it, 6-3, with her sharp serves– not giving Collins a chance to return and find her groove. 

But the first-timer finalist Collins did not go down without a fight as she started to become more aggressive in the first frame of the second set, blanking Barty at 3-0. 

With the momentum on Collins's side, Barty failed to stop the bleeding and found herself down 5-1 in the game due to her unforced errors. 

But with the cheers of the crowd, the three-time champ Barty stormed a major comeback and got herself back to the game, tying a 5-5 mark. 

Barty continued the pressure in the net, forcing a tiebreaker, and eventually went on to dominate Collins in the deciding game 7-2, to bring back the elusive Australian Open trophy for Australia.

"This was like a dream come true to me", said Barty in front of her home crowd after her finishing point. 

Barty is the current grand slam champion while Collins, on the other hand, will march her way to the top 10 world rankings after an impressive run in the tournament.


Edited by Jostle Doen Pilayre