Barty becomes first Australian to win French Open in 46 years

Ashleigh Barty broke a 46-year-old curse on Saturday by winning the Women’s French Open title, defeating Czech Republic’s Marketa Vandrousova 6-1 6-3 at Roland Garros.

The 23-year-old Barty, who was seeded eight for the tournament, secured the historic triumph in just over an hour (70 minutes).

Playing in her first major final, the Australian teenager broke early in the first set to set the tone for the match, taking the first three of Vandrousova’s service games to race to a 6-1 set win.

Barty, who took a year off in 2015 to try her at cricket did not relent in the second set either despite a resolute defence from Vandrousova who had not lost a set in the tournament, firing 27 winners to close out the contest.

“It’s unbelievable, I’m a little bit speechless. I played the perfect match today. I’m so proud of myself and my team, it’s been an incredible two weeks,” Barty declared afterwards.

On the back of her first Majors triumph, Ashleigh Barty will rise to second in women’s tennis rankings, becoming only the first Australian woman to reach such height since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1976.