Ash Barty has won her first Wimbledon crown, beating Karolina Pliskova in a nerve-shredding final to become the first Australian to win the women's singles title for 41 years.
Just like her idol and mentor Evonne Goolagong Cawley half a century earlier, Barty, another Indigenous Australian, annexed the Venus Rosewater Dish but she needed real steel to go with the style on Saturday to win 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3 on Centre Court.
The Ngarigo woman had said she would have to play the match of her life to become the first Australian woman since Goolagong Cawley in 1980 to take the crown and she did just that, breaking the most feared serve in the competition six times.
Yet she effectively had won the match twice, having served for it at 6-5 in the second set and seemingly roaring to her dream triumph before the Czech world No.13 finally shook off her early nerves to battle back, win a fortuitous tiebreak and take the match into a decider.
Barty then showed why she's the world No.1, recovering her poise to take the final set after one hour and 55 minutes and she slumped to her haunches, with tears of joy, as it dawned what she'd achieved.
It marked the most significant milestone yet on an incredible global journey for 25-year-old Barty, who left Australia in March and had suffered tournament-winning elation and injury-ridden despair in equal measure leading into this crowning triumph.
Ash Barty after the winning the match Source: ABACA
Just a month ago, she feared she would not even make the start line at Wimbledon because of the hip injury she suffered at the French Open.
Yet after a remarkable rehabilitation and growing stronger with each round, Ipswich's finest saved her best to last to become only Australia's third ladies champion after Margaret Court and Goolagong as she lifted her fourth title of an astonishing year.
With Pliskova seeming almost paralysed with her stiff movement and unusually tame serving, Barty had torn into her, instantly breaking a delivery that had hitherto only been breached four times throughout the whole tournament.
Justifying being the overwhelming favourite as she held a 5-2 career advantage over Pliskova going into the final, Barty's superior all-court prowess eventually prevailed despite the eighth seed making a fight of it after starting like a statue.
The roof had been opened on Centre Court shortly before the first showdown to feature two first-time finalists since 1977 and Barty, who's won their past three meetings, made a perfect start.
Ash Barty plays a shot during the match Source: ABACA
She reeled off the first three games without dropping a point and when the frozen Czech finally got on the scoreboard after losing 14 straight points, Pliskova got sympathetic cheers from the crowd.
A double fault saw her go 4-0 down but Barty, in complete command, then tossed in a careless service game to give the 29-year-old a chink of light.
That was instantly blocked out as Barty took the next game but Pliskova showed signs of at last finding her feet, with a glorious service return winner earning her another break with the Australian serving for the set.
But Barty made no mistake in her next service game, winning to love to take the weirdly uneven opening set in just 28 minutes.
It couldn't be that easy for Barty and it wasn't, Pliskova suddenly finding her mojo to reel off nine straight points and move into a 4-3 lead in the second.
With a match having broken out, Barty, now looking a mite nervous herself, started using her backhand slice to it most devastating effect as Pliskova got broken from 5-5, 40-0 up.
Yet serving for a dream, she faltered, a double fault kick-starting a careless, nervous game and it continued in the tiebreak when two cruel net cords also came to Pliskova's aid as she took the match into a third set.
Ash Barty poses with the Venus Rosewater Dish and the Ladies’ Singles Board Source: Press Association
It was a set that showcased why Barty's the best as, intelligently, she began using killer slice even more effectively to race into a 3-0 lead.
Barty never looked back, banging down a seventh ace and seeing Pliskova dump a backhand into the net on championship point to claim the crown.
Alcott wins
Meanwhile, Australian wheelchair tennis king Dylan Alcott has claimed his second Wimbledon quad wheelchair title, moving ever closer to a potential calendar year "golden slam" of titles.
The Melbourne star landed his third grand slam triumph of the year on Saturday, following his successes at the Australian Open and recent French Open, with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over his biggest current rival, Dutchman Sam Schroder.
Now the 30-year-old will go on to Tokyo for the Paralympics and then hope to complete the five-title "golden slam" at the US Open.
The 21-year-old Schroder is the only man to have beaten Alcott this season and was confident of repeating his recent triumph over the Aussie at last month's French Riviera Open.
Dylan Alcott with the winners trophy after winning the final of the quad wheelchair singles Source: Press Association
Yet the Australian was at his sharpest as he picked up the 14th grand slam singles title of his glittering career, breaking the left-hander Schroder three times in the opening set and three in the second for a comprehensive triumph.
Demonstrating more flair and touch than the Dutchman, especially with his drop shots that constantly caused Schroder problems, Alcott again showed why he's become a firm favourite with the Wimbledon crowd with his shows of emotion and virtuoso shotmaking.
After he'd wrapped up his victory in 67 minutes, Alcott, ever the showman, spun around in his wheelchair on No.3 Court to the delight of a crowd that featured a small but noisy Australian contingent.
