Incredible Barty Barrels Over Vondrousova For French Open Title

Ash Barty collected the biggest title of her career Sunday in Paris, dominating teen Marketa Vondrousova 6-1, 6-3 to win the French Open title.

“It’s remarkable,” Barty said after the win. “At the moment it’s a bit too much and a bit out there, really. But it’s amazing. I mean, we have done the work, and we tried to put ourselves in these positions. Now that we’re here, it’s just incredible.

“It’s been an incredible couple of weeks, that’s for sure. I think any time I can play my brand of tennis, I know that I can match it against the best in the world. For the last fortnight, the stars have aligned for me. I have been able to play really good tennis when I’ve needed it.

“This is just incredible. I never dreamt that I’d be sitting here with this trophy here at the French Open. I mean, obviously we have dreams and goals as children, but this is incredible.”

As she did against Amanda Anisimova, Barty bolted out to a quick 4-0 lead but this time held on to the advantage as the 19-year-old Czech appeared to be overwhelmed by her first match on Philippe Chatrier.

Vondrousova made it more of a match in the second, hanging in during several long games. Barty, though was far too strong on her serve which paced her to the title.

The 23-year-old who years ago gave up tennis for cricket, becomes the first Australian to win a Slam since Sam Stosur at the 2011 US Open, and the first to win at Roland Garros since Margaret Court 46 years ago in 1973.

She’s also the sixth different women’s champion the tournament has seen in the last six years.

Vondrousova hadn’t dropped a set entering the match, but fell to 0-3 against Barty.

“I think she was just too good today. I think she played an amazing match. I didn’t have too many chances today. Yeah, I think she just gave me a lesson today,” Vondrousova said.

“It was also windy, so it was a bit different today. I think she didn’t let me play my game today. I think she was just better at everything today.

“She’s playing too good. She’s mixing things up. She has a huge serve, so it’s all very tough to play against. I didn’t really feel good today because she didn’t let me play my game, and it was really tough.”

The young lefty will move into the Top 20 and be among the new stars on the tour.

I played my first Grand Slam final, so it’s a good thing,” Vondrousova added. “I think I’m proud of myself at everything, because I’m just 19 and I won six tough matches.

“It was amazing two weeks for me, and I’m just really proud of myself that I was in the final here.”

The 8th-ranked Barty will jump up to No. 2 in the rankings (highest Australian women since 7-time Slam winner Evonne Goolagong Cawley on December 6, 1976.) and earns her over $2.5 million in prize money. She also heads into the grass season as the win leader on the season with 31 and in the lead of the WTA 2019 points race.

“Evonne sent me a text a couple days ago and said this was her first Grand Slam,” Barty said. “I spotted her name on the trophy. I’ll give her a call a little bit later on.

“There were players that were dominant and that I looked up to. I think in particular that was Evonne. When I got a little bit older, I began to realize what she achieved and just how remarkable that was.”

The 3pm scheduled start time was delayed about 90 minutes due to the late conclusion of the Dominic Thiem-Novak Djokovic semifinal.