Barty beats Collins to win Australian Open title

Ash Barty beat American Danielle Collins 6-3 7-6(2) to win her first Australian Open title on Saturday, ending Australia's 44-year wait for a home winner and picked up her third Grand Slam title

Barty became the first Australian to win the event since Chris O'Neil captured the women's title in 1978.

O'Neil was present in the stands cheering as the crowd on the floodlit Rod Laver Arena erupted when Barty converted her first match point with a forehand crosscourt winner.

Collins was the first to set up a breakpoint in the contest with some forceful groundstrokes but a calm and composed Barty found the range with her serve to get out of trouble. She then broke in the next game when her opponent served up a double fault.

Some uncharacteristic forehand errors from Barty allowed Collins, who will make her top-10 debut when the rankings are updated on Monday, to break early in the second set and the American let out a shriek of "Come On" to celebrate opening up a 3-0 lead.

The American broke Barty's delivery, which looked almost impregnable this past fortnight, a second time in the set. But when Collins appeared to be on the verge of levelling the match as she served at 5-1, the Australian showed nerves of steel and raised her game.

Barty got the setback on serve and then dominated the tiebreak to complete a memorable comeback that left the home nation rejoicing all over Australia. 

🏆 @ashbarty 💙#AusOpen • #AO2022 pic.twitter.com/fZUMFuQkEx

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 29, 2022

Win a Grand Slam on home soil? Completed it mate 🇦🇺🏆@ashbarty defeats Danielle Collins 6-3 7-6(2) to become the #AO2022 women’s singles champion.

🎥: @wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/TwXQ9GACBS

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 29, 2022