The 25-year-old became the first home hopeful to win the singles crown in 44 years, with a steely 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) victory over American Danielle Collins.

The beloved Barty fought back from 5-1 down in the second set, ensuring tennis lovers across the country were on the edge of their seat until the final minute.

Australia's queen of the court will head to New York in August hoping for glory at the US Open, the only major still eluding her.

Meanwhile, parts of the nation continued to battle surging COVID case numbers on Sunday, with NSW once again reporting its deadliest day of the pandemic.

NSW recorded 52 COVID-related deaths in the latest 24-hour reporting period, following on from Saturday's tragic tally of 49 deaths.

The 52 deaths included three people in their 60s, 11 people in their 70s, 26 people in their 80s, 11 aged in their 90s and one aged more than 100.

Victoria recorded 10,589 new coronavirus cases since Saturday. Sadly, there were also 20 coronavirus-related deaths.

Despite the new infections, Victoria's active cases number dropped to 78,294 on Sunday, steadily decreasing from a high of 139,562 on Australia Day.

Details of Queensland's back-to-school plan were also released on the weekend, just over a week before classes return are set to resume.

The state recorded 13 virus deaths and 8580 new cases, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announcing masks would be mandatory for high school students and "strongly encouraged" from year 3 upwards.

Ms Palaszczuk told reporters on Sunday she wanted Queensland schools to be a safe place.

"I want parents to have confidence and I want to make sure that the children know exactly what they need to [do] going back as well," she said.

In the ACT, COVID cases continued their downward trend, with 584 new infections reported on Sunday.

The caseload was below 1000 for the 11^th day in a row in the ACT, with 62 people in hospital with COVID-19 - also down from the day prior.

There were 849 cases of COVID-19 recorded in the Northern Territory, 594 reported in Tasmania, 20 reported in Western Australia and 1633 reported in South Australia.

South Australia received support from the Australian Defence Force across the weekend, with floodwaters affecting grocery shipment routes.

A 14-day major emergency was declared in the state on Friday, allowing Police Commissioner Grant Stevens to direct the movement of freight.

Premier Steven Marshall warned the northern half of the state could expect up to 200 millimetres of rainfall over the next few days.

"We are very grateful to our friends in the Australian Defence Force who have been helping South Australia, first with the bushfires of course, then with our response to coronavirus and now with these extreme weather events," Mr Marshall said.

And we're all very grateful to Ash Barty for giving us all something to celebrate.

Have a great week.

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