Czech Marketa Vondrousova won the Wimbledon Open women’s singles final with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur on Saturday under the roof of the All England Club’s center court.
Holder of 42e rank in the world, Vondrousova, a 24-year-old left-hander, thus became the lowest-ranked woman — and the first unseeded woman — to win Wimbledon.
She had in fact become the first unseeded woman to reach the final at Wimbledon in 60 years.
The last, Billie Jean King, runner-up in 1963, sat in the front row of the royal box on Saturday, alongside Kate, Princess of Wales.
Competing in a second career singles final at a Grand Slam tournament, Vondrousova had to erase deficits in each of the two sets to earn this triumph.
In the first set, she came from behind twice after conceding service breaks to the No. 6 player in the world in the second and sixth games. On each occasion, the Czech responded by stealing Jabeur’s serve from the next game.
Vondrousova scored another break of service in the ninth game of the opening set and followed it up with a perfect serve game to close the first set in her favor in 40 minutes.
Vondrousova continued her momentum with an early break in the second set. However, she let the next three games slip away, two of them on her serve, allowing Jabeur to take a 3-1 lead.
Again, Vondrousova responded by breaking Jabeur’s serve in game five, and again in game nine, to give herself a 5-4 lead.
On her serve, Vondrousova first won the first three points in the 10e game to give yourself three match points. She spoiled the first with a double fault but not the second, which she converted with a backhand cross volley that gave Jabeur no chance.
Both players were on the hunt for their first career Grand Slam title. In 2019, Vondrousova lost in the French Open final 6-1, 6-3 to Australian Ashleigh Barty.
For Jabeur, it is the third setback in as many Grand Slam final attempts, including two in a row at Wimbledon.
Last year, at the All England Club, Jabeur bowed out against Elena Rybakina. Then, about two months later, she lost in the U.S. Open final to world number one Iga Swiatek.