(Reuters) – Factbox on Australia’s Ash Barty, who beat Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova 6-3 6-7(4) 6-3 in the final to win her first Wimbledon title on Saturday:
Age: 25
Nation: Australia
WTA ranking: 1
Seeding: 1
Grand Slam titles: 2 (French Open 2019; Wimbledon 2021)
ROAD TO FINAL
First round: beat Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) 6-1 6-7(1) 6-1
Second round: beat Anna Blinkova (Russia) 6-4 6-3
Third round: beat Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic) 6-3 7-5
Fourth round: beat 14-Barbora Krejcikova (Czech Republic) 7-5 6-3
Quarter-finals: beat Ajla Tomljanovic (Australia) 6-1 6-3
Semi-finals: beat 25-Angelique Kerber (Germany) 6-3 7-6(3)
EARLY LIFE
* Began playing tennis aged five when parents Robert and Josie introduced her to the sport.
CAREER TO DATE
* After starting her career on the ITF circuit in Australia in 2010, she played her first WTA qualifying event at the U.S. Open the following year.
* Claimed four singles titles and two doubles titles on the ITF circuit in 2012.
* Won one WTA doubles title and reached three Grand Slam doubles finals with fellow Australian Casey Dellacqua in 2013 (Australian Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open).
* After winning another WTA doubles title in 2014, she took a break from tennis following the U.S. Open and had a successful stint with the Brisbane Heat cricket team in the Women’s Big Bash League, before returning in 2016.
* Broke into the top 20 in 2017, clinching her first WTA singles title at Kuala Lumpur as a qualifier. She reached two more singles finals, at Birmingham and Wuhan, before becoming Australia’s number one player.
* Won her second and third WTA singles titles at Nottingham and Zhuhai to finish 2018 ranked 15 in the world. Claimed four more doubles titles.
* Sealed her first title of 2019 at Miami in March before clinching her maiden Grand Slam at the French Open, where she beat Czech Marketa Vondrousova in the final.
* First Australian player in 46 years to win the women’s major title at Roland Garros.
* The same year, she rose to the world number one ranking in June and also spearheaded Australia to their first Fed Cup final since 1993, where they lost to France.
* Started her second season as the top-ranked player in 2020. Won her eighth WTA singles title at Adelaide and reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, losing to eventual champion Sofia Kenin.
* Did not participate in any other Grand Slams in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, before returning at the Australian Open in 2021 where she lost to Karolina Muchova in the quarter-finals. Retired from her second-round match at French Open due to a hip injury.
* Defeated Karolina Pliskova in her first Wimbledon final to win her second Grand Slam title.
(Compiled by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
