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

1.39pm BST

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:

1.37pm BST

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

Roof is already closed on Centre Court ahead of @Wimbledon ladies singles final in an hour and a bit. The diehards are already seated #Wimbledon #WimbledonThing pic.twitter.com/JQl1jxFsIE

1.32pm BST

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.”

Related: Grounded and meticulous Ash Barty writing tennis history of her own | Richard Evans

1.27pm BST

“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.

1.22pm BST

Any predictions, or thoughts on today’s match?

Do get in touch: via email or Twitter.

1.20pm BST

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.

Related: Ash Barty on brink of joining Evonne Goolagong Cawley in pantheon of Australian tennis greats – in pictures

1.16pm BST

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

1.12pm BST

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:

Related: First Wimbledon final helps Karolina Pliskova put painful year behind her

1.00pm BST

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.

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