Ashleigh Barty of Australia stormed into her first Grand Slam final at the 2019 French Open with a win over the 17-year-old American sensation Amanda Anisimova, in a match that saw the momentum swing wildly throughout, despite the final scorecard reading 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3.
Barty raced to a 5-0 lead and served for the opening set. But Anisimova turned that around by winning the next six games and closing out the set in the tiebreak.
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The American then took a 3-0 lead in the second set. But Barty then reeled off the next six games to take the set.
Barty held her serve in a 14-point game to begin the deciding set. After a hold of serve, Anisimova broke her opponent and then took a 3-1 lead.
Barty broke back twice and held three match points at 5-3 on Anisimova’s serve. The American saved all three. On her own serve, Barty rushed to 40-0, but Anisimova won the next two points before the Australian closed out the match.
Anisimova, who dismantled defending champion and former world No. 1 Simona Halep in a 6-2, 6-4 quarterfinal win, was aiming to become the first 17-year-old Grand Slam finalist since Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004. She’ll have another opportunity at Wimbledon.
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Barty will be looking to cap a breakthrough year when she faces another teenager, the 19-year-old Marketa Vondrousova, in Saturday’s final.
The Australian broke out as a doubles star in 2013, reaching three Grand Slam finals at age 16-17. But she took a sabbatical from tennis in 2015 in order not to burn out. Barty returned to the courts after a season of playing cricket in Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League and the Women’s National Cricket League. She won her first Grand Slam doubles title in her fifth final at the 2018 US Open, and then she reached her first Major quarterfinals in singles at the Australian Open earlier this year.
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