Women's Final - Ashleigh Barty vs Marketa Vondrousova

When I posted these two players as picks to win their respective quarters, little did I expect them to meet in the final! So now we have two players in the maiden Grand Slam tournament singles final with not a great deal to split them.

A maiden winner might sound unusual but it will be the fourth year in a row for a first major winner here.

Ashleigh Barty was a star junior, winning the Wimbledon girls' title as a 15yo, then struggled with the stresses of world travel and the expectation of stardom, unable to transfer her junior success into senior ranks, at least in singles events.

She took a break from the sport, famously playing cricket in the Women's Big Bash League in Australia, and the Richmond FC fanatic probably could have played Australian Rules in AFLW as well had cricket not beaten the football code in the race to become professional. Almost two years at home brought balance and perspective back to her life before she rejoined the WTA Tour.

And if there's ever a case study to highlight the benefits of taking a mental health break, it's this one. Rest, recovery and maturity turned everything around. Reaching the final propels her to world no.3, and victory would take the proud Queenslander one number higher, the first Australian woman to do so in 34 and 43 years respectively. The last Australian women's champion was Margaret Court back in 1973.

While Barty looked shaky in the semi-final, giving away a 5/0 lead in the first set and then an early break in the second, her resolve in the final set is enviable She has won all five third sets on clay this season, and in the two corresponding matches in Paris, conceded just three games.