Czech Barbora Krejcikova wins Wimbledon

(London) Czech Barbara Krejcikova won the Wimbledon tournament by beating Italian Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 on Saturday.

This is a second Grand Slam title for Krejcikova, 28, who also triumphed at the French Open in 2021.

Krejcikova was not seeded at the time in Paris and was only ranked 31^e seeded at the All England Club after illness and a back injury limited her to a 7-9 record this season heading into this tournament.

Krejcikova is also the eighth different woman to be crowned champion in the last eight editions of the tournament. Last year’s winner, Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, was eliminated in the first round last week.

For Paolini, it was her second consecutive defeat in a major tournament final after her defeat at the hands of Poland’s Iga Swiatek at Roland Garros last month. She is nevertheless the first woman since Serena Williams in 2016 to play the final match of both Grand Slams in the same season.

On Saturday, the two finalists took turns to direct the course of the match.

Playing coolly and efficiently – seemingly effortlessly – Krejcikova won 10 of the first 11 points and quickly took a two-break lead at 5-1.

Despite the crowd’s encouragement, which regularly shouted “Forza!” (Go!) at Paolini, Krejcikova easily won the first round.

Krejcikova can get to the net, sure — she has won seven Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, including two at Wimbledon — but she was mostly content to hang back at the baseline, hitting shot after shot to gain the upper hand in longer rallies.

Plan A seemed sufficient early in the match in front of a Centre Court crowd that included actors Tom Cruise, Kate Beckinsale and Hugh Jackman.

After a tough first set, Paolini retreated to the locker room. She was a different player, no longer looking like someone weighed down by the residual fatigue of the longest women’s semifinal in Wimbledon history. She had beaten Donna Vekic in 2 hours 51 minutes on Thursday.

She quickly took a 3-0 lead in the second set, forcing a deciding set.

After the second, it was this time Krejcikova who went to the locker room. Result: after committing 14 double faults in the middle set, she found her precision again at the end of the match.

At 3-3, Paolini gave in with a double fault – her only one of the match – which allowed Krejcikova to record the break.

At 5-3, Krejci saved two break points, taking advantage of his third championship point to end the match.

Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and Serbian Novak Djokovic will meet in the men’s final on Sunday.