Ash Barty has defied intense pressure and expectation to become the first home hope to win the Australian Open singles crown in 44 years. The world No.1 completed a dream fortnight at Melbourne Park with a steely 6-3 7-6 (7-2) victory over American Danielle Collins in the most-anticipated women’s Open final in almost half a century. Unlike her romp through to the championship decider, Saturday night’s victory was gut-wrenchingly hard-earned with Barty needing to fight back from 5-1 down in the second set before prevailing after one hour and 27 tension-filled minutes. Despite the late wobble, the straight-sets win ensured Barty’s march to the title was the most commanding campaign since Steffi Graf in the second-ever Open at Melbourne Park in 1989. Utterly dominant since her 6-0 6-1 first-round win over Lesia Tsurenko, Barty didn’t drop a single set all tournament, conceding a meagre 30 games in seven matches – …
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