Where women glow

Women's pro tennis is wide open nowadays. You never know what's going to happen. But the favorite won the Australian Open last night. Ash Barty is the rare competitor who wins their country's major tournament championship. She beat Danielle Collins, who with Madison Keys was one of two American women in the final four.

In the final match, after Barty cruised through the first set, Collins got up on her in the second, 5 games to 1. It looked as though a marathon was in the making. But Collins got too hyped, screaming and shouting at every key moment, while Barty remained cool and threw the kitchen sink at her opponent. The Australian won the next five games, then the tiebreaker, and it was over.

They wheeled out Evonne Goolagong to present the trophies. Wow, that brought back memories of days gone by.

I say good for Barty, the world's No. 1 for now, and especially good for Collins and Keys. The Americans put on an unexpectedly good show. Collins breaks into the Top 10 for the first time, and Keys goes home with great momentum after a bad year last year. She won a warm-up tournament in Adelaide.

Meanwhile, next up it's the men, good old Rafael Nadal against one of his likely successors, the loosey-goosey Russian Daniil Medvedev. On the male side of game, there is rarely much mystery.

Nadal, such a high-class guy, has played quite well so far down under. He could be poised to take the lead for the most major titles ever assembled by one man. Just one guy left to beat, but he's a corker, too.