Barty ends Australia's 46-year wait for French Open title
Paris, Jun 8: Ashleigh Barty ended Australia's 46-year wait for a French Open singles title on Saturday by thrashing nervous Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova in a one-sided women's final.
Eighth seed Barty got off to a strong start and never looked back, winning 6-1, 6-3 after only 70 minutes to claim her maiden Grand Slam title.
The 23-year-old will rise to second in the world behind only Naomi Osaka when the latest rankings are released next week, after becoming the first Australian winner at Roland Garros since Margaret Court won the last of her five trophies in 1973.
She will be best-ranked Australian woman since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1976.
"It's unbelievable, I'm a little bit speechless. I played the perfect match today. I'm so proud of myself and my team, it's been a incredible two weeks," said Barty.
"It's a special place for Australians here. Sam (Stosur) has done well here before and come so close. It's been a magical two weeks."
Barty, who famously took a break from tennis to play professional cricket in 2015, struck 27 winners past an opponent riddled with nerves.
The 19-year-old Vondrousova saw her bid to become the first teenage Grand Slam champion since Maria Sharapova won the 2006 US Open come to a tame end, as the world number 38 made 22 unforced errors, against a mere 10 winners.
"Congratulations to you and your team, you gave me a lesson," Vondrousova said to Barty at the trophy presentation.
"Even though I didn't get the win today, I'm really happy with everything."
- Nervous wait -
Almost 90 minutes after the match was due to start, the players made their way onto Court Philippe Chatrier, after Dominic Thiem's thrilling five-set win over Novak Djokovic in the men's semi-finals forced Barty and Vondrousova to endure a nervous wait.
The scheduling had already been criticised on Friday as a sexism row erupted when the women's semis were moved away from the showpiece Chatrier court.
In fact, this was the first match on the premier Roland Garros arena in Vondrousova's career, although she did have a brief practice session on Saturday morning.
The tension got the better of the Czech early on, as she double faulted to gift Barty two break points, before firing long to put her opponent 2-0 ahead.
Barty, who also reached the Australian Open quarter-finals earlier this year, consolidated the break with a confident love hold, leaving Vondrousova firmly on the back foot after only seven minutes of play.
Another break followed as Vondrousova threatened to fall apart, but she settled down and got herself on the scoreboard.
Barty quickly got back on track, and wrapped up the first set after only 29 minutes with a crunching forehand winner.
Vondrousova had it all to do in the second set having managed just two winners in the opener, but she contrived to drop serve again at the first time of asking.
She finally held serve for the first time in the match, though, saving two break points in the third game.
Vondrousova had reached the final without dropping a set and had the best record on tour since the Australian Open, but she left it too late to get her game in order on this occasion.
And Barty broke once more, hammering away a simple smash on her first match point to seal her moment in the spotlight, with Vondrousova left sitting on the bench in tears.
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Spurious ointment racket busted; Delhi Police recovers material worth Rs 2 crore from Ghaziabad unit
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi Police has busted a major interstate racket allegedly involved in the manufacture, repackaging and nationwide sale of spurious Schedule-H medicines, an official said on Sunday.
Police have also located a manufacturing unit and seized counterfeit drugs and raw material worth over Rs 2.3 crore.
According to the police, two men -- Gaurav Bhagat, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, and Shree Ram alias Vishal Gupta of northeast Delhi's Sabhapur -- have been arrested in the case, he said.
"The operation was carried out by the Crime Branch. The accused were engaged in producing and selling counterfeit versions of popular prescription ointments, including Betnovate-C and Clop-G, which are widely used for treating skin infections, allergies and sports-related injuries," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Aditya Gautam said in a statement.
The officer further said the spurious medicines were sold as genuine branded products, posing a serious risk to public health.
Acting on inputs, the Crime Branch team first conducted a raid at Teliwara in Sadar Bazar, one of the country's largest wholesale pharmaceutical and cosmetic markets.
"During the raid, a large quantity of counterfeit Schedule-H ointments was recovered. Subsequent technical analysis and follow-up intelligence led the team to a manufacturing unit operating from Meerpur Hindu village in the Loni area of Ghaziabad.
"A search of the premises resulted in the recovery of counterfeit medicines, huge quantities of raw chemicals, packing material, empty tubes bearing forged brand labels and machinery used for mixing, filling and sealing ointments," the DCP said.
He further said drug inspectors from the North and Central Zones of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, along with authorised representatives of the concerned pharmaceutical companies, conducted spot inspections and drew samples from the seized stock. They confirmed that the medicines were counterfeit and neither manufactured nor supplied by their companies.
The accused were also found to be operating without any valid licence to manufacture, store or sell pharmaceutical products, he added.
Police said that an FIR was registered at the Crime Branch police station on December 12 under various sections of the BNS and provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
"The seized material included around 1,200 tubes of spurious Betnovate-C ointment, over 2,700 tubes of fake Clop-G, more than 3,700 tubes of spurious Skin-Shine ointment, nearly 22,000 empty fake Clop-G tubes, over 350 kilograms of semi-prepared ointment, besides chemicals and manufacturing equipment," the DCP said.
He said further investigation is underway to trace the entire supply chain, including wholesalers, distributors, delivery handlers and retailers involved in the illegal trade.
