Ashleigh Barty: Home favourite wins her first Australian Open title

Ash Barty was presented with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup in Melbourne on Saturday.

Australian tennis fans will be celebrating as Ashleigh Barty won her home Grand Slam title, beating American Danielle Collins in Saturday's Australian Open final.

Barty becomes the first female home-grown champion for 44 years.

But it wasn't an easy task - she had to fight back from 5-1 down in the second set to win 6-3 7-6 (7-2) in the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.

"This is a dream come true for me. I am so proud of being Aussie," she told the crowd.

"As an Aussie, the most important part of this tournament has been being able to share this experience with the fans.

"This crowd is one of the most fun I've played in front of."

Let's find out a little more about the current world number one, Ash Barty.

Who is Ash Barty?

Ash rarely shows emotion on the court but was clearly VERY pleased to win the Australian Open!

Ashleigh Barty was born in Ipswich in southern Queensland in 1996 and says she is a "proud Indigenous woman".

That means her ancestors were some of the first people to populate Australia.

She began playing tennis at the age of four, and won the junior Wimbledon title when she was 15.

Barty has now won three out of the four major titles having won the 2019 French Open and last year's Wimbledon.

But she's not just a brilliant tennis player.

Barty took a break from professional tennis to pursue her passion for cricket.

She played in the Women's Big Bash League for Brisbane Heat but returned to tennis after the 17-month-long break.

Not content with the two sports, Ash is also a talented golfer, having won an amateur tournament in 2020.