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Wimbledon legend Martina Navratilova has warned that outsider Karolina Pliskova has the weapons to cause a final upset against world No.1 Ash Barty.
Ash Barty is ready to try to defuse the serving bombs of Karolina Pliskova in a Centre Court final trial by fire - but Wimbledon great Martina Navratilova warns she could have her work cut out against the tournament's most destructive delivery.
Barty admits that the tall Czech has the easy power and one-two strike capability to "take the match away" from her in a rush in Saturday's showdown and the world No.1 is working on how to neutralise a serve that's only been broken four times this fortnight.
"She's been serving exceptionally well this week, and she's been able to control a lot of the matches from early on," said Barty of the opponent she's beaten five times out of seven matches.
Yet like Barty, there's a serenity that's descended on Pliskova's game which makes her such a threat, with her German coach Sascha Bajin saying the world No.13 has been a different woman since a first-round fright in her 7-5 6-4 win against Tamara Zidansek.
"She was 2-5 down first set and something happened. It's very hard for me to explain. I saw something change," noted Bajin on Friday.
"She got up off the chair, different look in her eyes, like a different player. Something about her changed."
Barty recognises the danger. "Pliskova has the ability to take the match away from you," she said.
"She's got a big one-two punch off her serve and she can control her service games, putting you under the pump on your own service games.
"Being able to keep scoreboard pressure's a massive thing and she's been serving exceptionally well this week, able to control a lot of the matches from early on.
"So that's a challenge, trying to neutralise (her serve) as best as possible early on."
Easier said than done. Pliskova has pounded down a tournament-leading 54 aces among 140 unreturned serves, winning 57 of 61 service games - the only player in the field of 128 with a 90 per cent success rate.
In contrast, though Barty's the third-highest ace server - with 46 - she's been much more vulnerable, broken 11 times in 64 service games.
Czech-born nine-times champion Navratilova has followed Pliskova's career closely and says she's never seen the 2016 US Open finalist play so well.
The pressure, she feels too, is all on the overwhelming favourite Barty.
"If she plays like she did against (No.2 seed) Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-final, it's going to be a hard one for Barty," Navratilova told the BBC.
"Ash has handled herself so well when she's been under pressure in the past but Pliskova puts you under pressure with her game - she can serve her off the court.
"If she plays like she has been, I think Pliskova can win.
"But Barty is the disrupter. She changes the pace, she changes the spin, she makes you move into places you don't want to be - so it'll be a great test for both players.
"But the pressure's definitely on Barty."
