Wimbledon 2021 women’s singles final: Ashleigh Barty v Karolina Pliskova – live!

9.46am EDT 09:46

Barty* 6-3, 2-1 Pliskova (*denotes next server)

The Pliskova renaissance appears to be over. The errors are back, and she is broken to love again. “She can’t execute anything,” says McEnroe of Pliskova’s struggles. “No one wants to see this, apart from Barty.”

9.43am EDT 09:43

Barty 6-3, 1-1 *Pliskova (*denotes next server)

Barty isn’t serving badly, either, and that’s a stunningly easy service hold to love, which started with a well-struck ace out wide, and ended with one down the middle. The Australian looks to be the player with extra gears to call on – if her opponent continues to improve.

Updated at 9.43am EDT

9.41am EDT 09:41

Barty* 6-3, 0-1 Pliskova (*denotes next server)

Pliskova holds, with Barty mustering a single point in return, and the Czech is beginning to hit her first serve a lot better.

Karolina Pliskova serves. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

Updated at 9.44am EDT

9.39am EDT 09:39

“Just as Pliskova seemed to be gathering some sort of momentum, Barty plays a sublime shot, confirming that she is very much in charge of this final thus far,” emails Colum Fordham. “But some signs of a reaction from the Czech player. Hope she defreezes.”

9.36am EDT 09:36

Barty wins the first set against Pliskova: 6-3!

Just what the ordered for Barty: a love hold to seal the first set. There were five breaks in that first set. Barty hit 12 winners to Pliskova’s two. Barty seized on her opponents nerves early on – but the Czech started to play a bit towards the end of the set. Can she force a decider?

Updated at 9.38am EDT

9.34am EDT 09:34

Barty* 5-3 Pliskova (*denotes next server)

Pliskova crafts a superb winner down the line for 0-15, then powers a serve out wide which Barty can only edge with the frame of her racket for 30-0. There’s another damaging first serve, before an impressive point on her second serve deals the game. Barty can serve for the set.

Updated at 9.35am EDT

9.32am EDT 09:32

Barty 5-2 *Pliskova (*denotes next server)

A cracking clean forehand winner from the Czech snatches another break back. She is still in this set – but only just. However, her game is starting to appear, she is hitting her groundstrokes with more freedom and confidence. If she can get the first serve going then she may even be able to force a real battle for the set.

Updated at 9.35am EDT

9.28am EDT 09:28

Barty* 5-1 Pliskova (*denotes next server)

A beautifully crafted point from Barty brings 30-30 as she works the angles on both sides – and Pliskova then dumps a shot into the net for break point. The Czech produces another error, booming a forehand a little long, and Barty will serve for the first set. There are plenty of errors coming from Pliskova’s side of the net, but Barty’s weapons – the big forehand and the backhand slice – are doing damage too.

Updated at 9.29am EDT

9.26am EDT 09:26

“That serve has got to pick up some steam,” says McEnroe of Pliskova’s early efforts in this final. “It’s at least 10 miles an hour slower than normal … at least make Barty beat her. Don’t beat yourself.”

9.24am EDT 09:24

Barty 4-1 *Pliskova (*denotes next server)

Pliskova is on the board! There is a wry smile from the Czech player as she walks to her chair for a drink having broken the Barty serve. For the first time, errors crept into Barty’s game there, and it’s something for Pliskova to cling to. The first-set bagel is now off the menu.

Karolina Pliskova reacts after finding the net. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

Updated at 9.29am EDT

9.19am EDT 09:19

Barty* 4-0 Pliskova (*denotes next server)

Pliskova, finally, stays in a rally long enough to bring an error – and she wins a point. But aside from that, she can’t get a first serve in, and aside from that, she is completely failing to deal with the Barty slice, which is staying low and making her extremely uncomfortable. Pliskova double faults to gift Barty another game.

The Centre Court crowd will be fervently hoping that this becomes a tennis match at some point soon.

Updated at 9.20am EDT

9.15am EDT 09:15

Barty 3-0 *Pliskova (*denotes next server)

This isn’t good for the Czech player, to say the least. “At the moment she’s completely frozen,” says McEnroe on commentary. This is going to be over very quickly unless Pliskova can relax and start playing her game. Barty, on the other hand, is flying, she is hitting the ball with authority, and it’s a dream start. Pliskova hasn’t won a single point.

Updated at 9.17am EDT

9.13am EDT 09:13

Barty* 2-0 Pliskova (*denotes next server)

Barty finds a superb power angle on her forehand for 0-15, then Pliskova fails to put away a short ball, coming into the net, and Barty lobs beautifully for 0-30. Pliskova soon nets a shot off a sliced Barty backhand, and Barty closes out the game with a clean winner that flicks off the net. An early break for the Australian – who’s hitting it very well indeed. Pliskova had only been broken four times in the whole tournament before that, says Tracey Austin on commentary.

Ashleigh Barty with a powerful serve. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Updated at 9.16am EDT

9.10am EDT 09:10

Barty 1-0 *Pliskova (*denotes next server)

Barty climbs into three big forehands in the first rally of the match, off her second serve. Pliskova slips and the Australian thumps a clean winner into the open court – then aces for 30-0. Pliskova hits long, next up, for 40-0 and then can only get the frame of her racket on next serve. A nice, comfortable hold for Barty to begin – and some ominous signs from her forehand already.

Updated at 9.10am EDT

9.07am EDT 09:07

Barty, perhaps, looks noticeably nervous as she is pictured warming up. Which is entirely to be expected. Both players will be feeling the tension in these moments. But which of them will hit their stride quickest as they get into the match? We’re ready to go.

9.03am EDT 09:03

The players smile for a pre-match photo, and now a couple of minutes for a warm-up.

9.02am EDT 09:02

“2012 was the last time the ladies final at Wimbledon went to a 3rd set, which means 7 finals have come and gone since without going the full distance, which is an Open-era record,” emails Tosh. “The previous longest “3rd-set drought” was 6 finals (1970 to 1975).”

9.00am EDT 09:00

The players are about to walk out on to Centre Court. Barty runs through a few stretches as she stands behind Pliskova, ready to stroll out for one of the biggest matches of these players’ lives.

Updated at 9.00am EDT

8.59am EDT 08:59

Pliskova reached the last four of the Australian Open in 2019 and at Roland Garros in 2017. Her single appearance at a grand slam final was in 2016, at the US Open, when she lost to Angelique Kerber.

Emma Raducanu gives the thumb up from the royal box. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

Updated at 9.02am EDT

8.51am EDT 08:51

A simple stat: Barty and Pliskova have met seven times in the past. Barty leads the head-to-head by five matches to two.

The last time Pliskova defeated the Australian was at the US Open in 2018. This year, in a Stuttgart quarter-final, Pliskova won the first set 6-2 before Barty hit back to take the last two, 6-1, 7-5.

Updated at 8.53am EDT

8.49am EDT 08:49

Barty is asked by Clare Balding on the BBC: what will her pre-match routine be? “Keep it pretty relaxed … the routines we’ve been doing have been working … I’ve felt great as I’ve walked out on to court. Saturday is about enjoying it … regardless of the result, you can say you gave it your all and you enjoyed it, and that’s all that matters.

“Even though sometimes the destination is incredible, it’s the journey … being able to have an adventure along the way is what makes it so memorable, and so special.”

Updated at 8.50am EDT

8.39am EDT 08:39

Pliskova tells the BBC that her goal at this tournament was second week, and that she was “super happy” even to achieve that.

Asked about the Czech champions of the past, such as Martina Navratilova and Jana Novotna, she gives a distinctly single-minded answer:

“I don’t think about them. It’s my tournament, it’s my tennis, it’s my life … I don’t want to think about the pressure that they did it.”

Updated at 8.39am EDT

8.37am EDT 08:37

There is rain in the air in London, and the roof above Centre Court is closed:

Chris Evert, on pundit duty on the BBC, thinks that will be a disadvantage to Pliskova’s power game, because it takes a touch of pace off the ball.

Tracy Austin meanwhile observes that this final will be a fascinating clash of styles, with the huge-serving Pliskova against the more awkward style of Barty (featuring, of course, that high-powered forehand).

8.32am EDT 08:32

Some more pre-match reading, from Richard Evans, on Ashleigh Barty:

“Officially the world’s best women’s tennis player since June 2019, Barty still flies, oddly, a touch under the radar. For a woman who is a down-to-earth achiever and as far as possible from the sporting stereotypes of tattoos, tantrums and navel gazing, it is very much where she is happy to be.”

Updated at 8.33am EDT

8.27am EDT 08:27

“What is going on,” emails Kevin. “What is the score?”

It’s 0-0 at the moment, Kevin. The match starts in about 30 minutes.

“Why can’t I view it on Channel 9?”

Can’t help you there, I’m afraid.

8.20am EDT 08:20

Fifty years after her friend Evonne Goolagong Cawley was first crowned Wimbledon champion, fellow Indigenous Australian Barty, wearing the same white scalloped dress, is one win away from emulating her mentor.

Ashleigh Barty has worn a dress in tribute to Evonne Goolagong Cawley at Wimbledon. Photograph: Javier García/REX/Shutterstock

See the photo gallery featuring some excellent archive shots of Goolagong Cawley’s playing days:

8.16am EDT 08:16

Karolina Pliskova (left) and Ashleigh Barty share the same side of the net – and a smile – during practice on Court One earlier today:

Karolina Pliskova and Australia’s Ashleigh Barty practising on Court One. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters

Updated at 8.16am EDT

8.12am EDT 08:12

Less than two months ago, on 16 May, Pliskova suffered a 6-0, 6-0 hammering at the hands of Poland’s Iga Swiatek in the final of the Italian Open in Rome.

Here is Tumaini Carayol on how the Czech rebuilt her season, and arrived at her first Wimbledon final today:

8.00am EDT 08:00

Preamble

Both Ashleigh Barty and Karolina Pliskova are, in some senses, unlikely Wimbledon finalists this year: after being forced to retire from the French Open with injury, Barty and her team doubted she would even fit to appear at the All England Club this summer. The Czech Pliskova, meanwhile, had endured a difficult year before arriving in SW19, dropping out of the top 10 for the first time in five years, and she also recovered from a set down to defeat the apparently unstoppable force of Aryna Sabalenka in their semi-final.

The Australian Barty has justified her world No 1 status in the past couple of weeks – she has undoubtedly played the most consistently impressive tennis in this competition on her path to the final. But Pliskova is a polished performer on grass too and, perhaps crucially today, at the age of 29 the magnitude of the occasion is unlikely to affect her.

In a few hours’ time, we will see a new Wimbledon champion crowned (if we don’t count the junior title won by Barty 10 years ago). And with due respect to the other grand slam events, it doesn’t get any bigger than this, does it? The match is scheduled to begin on Centre Court at 2pm BST.

Updated at 8.08am EDT