Marketa Vondrousova became the lowest-ranked and first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon, defeating 2022 runner-up Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday in London.
Vondrousova is a 24-year-old left-hander from the Czech Republic who is ranked 42nd. She was the first unseeded woman to even reach the final at the All England Club since Billie Jean King in 1963.
Vondrousova trailed in each set but collected the last four games of the first, then the last three games of the second.
This is her first Grand Slam title. She lost in the final of the 2019 French Open as a teenager.
Jabeur dropped to 0-3 in major finals. The 28-year-old from Tunisia is the only Arab woman and only North African woman to make it that far in singles at any Grand Slam tournament.
WATCH | Vondrousova victorious 7 times in Wimbledon title run:
Czechia’s Marketa Vondrousova, who came to Wimbledon unseeded, defeats Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur to win her first Wimbledon title in straight sets (6-4,6-4). Marketa Vondrousova becomes the sixth different Wimbledon champion in the past six years.
But she lost to Elena Rybakina at the All England Club and to No. 1 Iga Swiatek at the U.S. Open last year.
Vondrousova’s surge to the trophy was hard to envision two weeks ago.
She was 1-4 in previous appearances at Wimbledon before going 7-0 this fortnight. A year ago, Vondrousova was unable to even compete at Wimbledon, instead showing up with a cast on her surgically repaired left wrist to cheer on a friend.
27 unforced errors for Jabeur
Vondrousova was sidelined from April to October because of that injury and finished 2022 ranked just 99th.
They traded early breaks of serve and it was 2-2 after 23 minutes. They again traded breaks, each one at love, and it was 4-4 after 34 minutes.
But Jabeur’s mistakes kept coming — she would finish with 27 unforced errors — and Vondrousova moved ahead by claiming 16 of its last 18 points in the first set.
During the break between sets, Jabeur headed to the locker room. When she came back out, she immediately made another error, and the spectators made a ton of noise to show their support. Another miscue gave Vondrousova a break point, and Jabeur gifted that with yet another shot into the net. The match was 45 minutes old, and Vondrousova led by a set and a break.
That is when Jabeur began something of a turnaround. She took three games in a row to go ahead 3-1, showing signs of perhaps the sort of comebacks she created after ceding the opening sets before beating Rybakina, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka and 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu.
The crowd was pulling for the popular Jabeur, nicknamed the Minister of Happiness for her demeanour on and off the court, the level of the support they were providing rising right along with her level of play.
It didn’t last.
Vondrousova overcame that blip and, with her husband on hand for the first time during the tournament, she surged to the finish.
When she ended the match with a jumping volley, she tumbled to the grass, the happiest she’s ever been on the surface.
De Groot captures women’s wheelchair final
Diede De Groot won her 11th consecutive Grand Slam title by beating doubles partner Jiske Griffioen 6-2, 6-1 Saturday in the women’s wheelchair singles final at Wimbledon.
De Groot has won 19 major titles overall, including five at Wimbledon. Her current winning streak in Grand Slams dates to the 2021 Australian Open and she now has a chance to secure a third straight sweep of all four majors if she wins the U.S. Open in September.
That would also tie the record of 12 straight Grand Slam wins in wheelchair singles set by Shingo Kunieda between 2007-11.
The Dutchwoman also extended her tour-level winning streak to 111 straight matches, dating to the 2021 Melbourne Wheelchair Open.
De Groot could still collect more silverware at Wimbledon as she and Griffioen competed in the wheelchair doubles final.
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