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PARIS – Ashleigh Barty decided to retire from tennis in 2014 to play cricket. After nearly two years of absence, the Australian returned to the circuit and this career choice paid off on Saturday with her first Grand Slam title.
Barty, seeded number 8, took control from the start of the final of the French Open and never let go, beating the Russian Marka Vondrousova, 19, virgin of the series 6-1.
"I played the perfect match today," Barty said.
Pretty close, especially at first.
She ran to a 4-0 lead and, showing that she had learned the lesson after getting a 5-0 lead in the first set of her quarterfinal, held up well.
Barty was 27-0 over the winners against a much more agitated Vondrousova and became the first Australian to win the trophy at Roland Garros since Margaret Court in 1973.
Barty, 23, and Vondrousova had never competed in a Grand Slam final before. Neither one nor the other had even participated in a major semifinal until this week.
At a field interview that she had not seemed to be nervous, Barty replied, "Oh, I was … very nervous."
Barty had not even passed the fourth round in his first 17 appearances at Slam before heading to the quarterfinals in front of a crowd of supporters at the Australian Open in January.
But she really looked at the play on Saturday, with her tremendous setback creating openings that she profited from with her forehand, which produced 11 of her winners.
After the US Open five years ago, Barty has retired from professional tennis. She had been a successful junior, winning the Wimbledon women's title in 2011, and had already competed in three doubles finals.
But her cricket time allowed her to reconsider how she wanted to tackle her other sport and she returned to the WTA in 2016.
"These two weeks have been magical," said Barty.
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