In 2016, Karolina Pliskova reached her first Major final. A year later, she spent seven weeks as the No.1 player in the world. In a stretch between 2016 and 2019, she advanced to the quarterfinals or better at seven out of 10 Slams, and won seven tour titles. But the last 18 months had been rough for Karolina. Outside of two runs to the final in Rome, she only achieved one semifinal. Pliskova arrived in London on a three-match losing streak, and had never gone beyond the fourth round of this event. However, after five straight-set victories over unseeded players, and one three-set victory over the No.2 seed, she’s into her second career Major final.
In 2016, Ash Barty was a professional cricket player in Australia. Having left tennis at the age of 18, she would announce later in 2016 that she would return to the sport. Her singles results started to come in 2017 and 2018, with 2019 being her big breakthrough. After reaching her first Major quarterfinal at her home Slam, she surprisingly won the French Open, as clay had not historically been her strongest surface. Ash became the No.1 player in the world, reaching the second week of every Major she played over a two-and-a-half-year span, and she’s claimed 11 titles since her return. Like Pliskova, Barty has only dropped one set this fortnight, and is into her second Major singles final.
Also on Saturday, and ladies’ and gentlemen’s doubles championship matches will be played.
Ash Barty (1) vs. Karolina Pliskova (8) – 2:00pm on Centre Court
Barty leads their head-to-head 5-2 at all levels, and has taken their last three encounters. They’ve split two meetings on grass, though those occurred way back in 2012 and 2016. Four of their seven matches have gone three sets, and 6 out of their 18 sets played have been decided by a tiebreak. So while Ash has prevailed in this rivalry since rising to the top of the sport, it’s been far from one-sided.
Pliskova has only been broken four times through six matches. But she’s yet to face a player with the variety of Barty. And over the last few years, Ash has been the much better player, with a record of 102-22 since the start of 2019. While Ash’s serve has been broken much more frequently, she’s the superior player once a rally begins. That’s not to dismiss the effectiveness of Karolina’s powerful groundstrokes, especially on this surface. And her movement is often underrated. Still, Pliskova will need to rack up a lot of aces, and maintain a high percentage of first serves in, to be competitive.
Barty seems relaxed and content despite the length of this current road trip away from Australia, and surely having her boyfriend join her during this fortnight has helped the London bubble feel a little more like home. She’s been wearing a dress modeled after what Austalian Evonne Goolagong wore when she first won this event 50 years ago, her second Major. It only seems fitting for Ash to win her second Major on these grounds. I would not be surprised to see a tight three-setter considering Pliskova’s current form, but Barty just has so many options at her disposal, even when her best weapons are failing her. And since the start of last year, Ash is 18-3 in three-setters. She’s the favorite to raise the Venus Rosewater Dish on Saturday afternoon.
Other Notable Matches on Saturday:
Su-Wei Hsieh and Elise Mertens (3) vs. Veronika Kudermetova and Elena Vesnina – In Friday’s semifinals, the Russian team came back from 2-5 down in the third, saving three match points. They saved four additional match points earlier in the tournament. Vesnina was a mixed doubles runner-up last month in Paris, and won this title four years ago with Ekaterina Makarova. Hsieh won this title two years ago with Barbora Strycova.
Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic (1) vs. Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (4) – Mate and Pavic are 47-6 on the season with seven titles. But they are still vying for their first Major as a team, as are Granollers and Zeballos, who were finalists at the 2019 US Open. These teams split two meetings this year. Both were contested on clay, and both went to a deciding set tiebreak.
Saturday’s full Order of Play is here.
