LONDON — Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic secured her second Grand Slam singles title, defeating Italy’s Jasmine Paolini 6-2-, 2-6, 6-4 at Wimbledon.
After a wobbly second set, Krejcikova regained her composure and played a nearly flawless final set. After Paolini fought off two match points, Krejcikova hit a deep, unreturnable serve — and raised her arms in victory after 1 hour and 56 minutes.
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Krejcikova, the 31st of the 32 seeded players in the main draw, is the consummate closer.
When she’s healthy and reaches the last stage of the big tournaments, Krejcikova finds a way to win. She’s now won an astounding 12 of 13 major finals — 2-0 in singles, 3-0 in mixed doubles and 7-for-8 in doubles. And then there’s that Olympic doubles gold medal in Tokyo.
Hard to believe, but a back injury this season limited Krejcikova to a 7-9 record entering this tournament — the same number of wins she tallied at Wimbledon in her run to the title.
After the first question in her on-court interview, Krejcikova took a deep, deep breath. “I don’t have any words,” she said according to wtatennis.com. “It’s unbelievable what just happened. The best day of my tennis career — and the best day of my life.
Krejcikova is the fourth Czech player to win the women’s title at Wimbledon in the Open Era after her one-time mentor Jana Novotna, Petra Kvitova and last year’s champion Marketa Vondrousova.
To succeed on grass, Krejcikova knew she had to amp up her consistent clay game. That more aggressive attitude could be seen in the final numbers — she had 28 winners and 37 unforced errors.
This was a matchup with little historic context. These 28-year-olds born three weeks apart had only played once — in the first round of qualifying at the 2018 Australian Open — a match Krejcikova won easily.
Krejcikova won 10 of the first 11 points, breaking Paolini’s serve to open the match with a smooth forehand winner. She would break the Italian’s serve twice in the 35-minute first set and not face a break point herself. Krejcikova had 10 winners, mirrored by Paolini’s 10 unforced errors.
The way it was playing out, it seemed Krejcikova would cruise to a straight-sets victory. But the second set, very quickly, went Paolini’s way. She converted her first break point of the match to take a 2-0 lead and would break Krejcikova twice. Paolini had eight winners to Krejcikova’s 14 unforced errors.
But in the third set, the two players settled into a rhythm and played their most consistent tennis.
With Paolini serving at 3-all, Krejcikova forged the first advantage. She converted her second break point of the game when Paolini hit a nervous double fault. It was a lead she would not relinquish.
Three years ago at Roland Garros, on familiar footing of red clay, Krecikova navigated her way through the 128-player draw. She defeated fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova in the first round and Coco Gauff and Maria Sakkari, among others, on the way to the final. Krejcikova was a three-set winner over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the final.
“I had to improve everything,” Krejcikova said after reaching the final. “I think I definitely got better on faster surfaces. I feel like I had to develop my game because everybody else is developing their game, too. I mean, it’s great that it looks like I made some progress, I’m in another final.”
Krejcikova, ranked No. 32, is the second-lowest-ranked player to win the Wimbledon women’s singles title since the WTA rankings began in 1975.
“It’s unbelievable,” Krejcikova said, looking down at the gleaming Venus Rosewater Dish in her hands. “I’m standing here. I’m a Wimbledon winner.”
Diede de Groot, meanwhile, secured her 15th consecutive Grand Slam title by winning the women’s wheelchair final at Wimbledon for her sixth singles trophy at the All England Club.
De Groot defeated fellow Dutchwoman Aniek van Koot 6-4, 6-4 on No. 1 Court, sealing the victory with a backhand service return to extend her record streak of consecutive major titles and take her overall tally to 23 – also a record.
She has won every Grand Slam tournament since the 2020 US Open and also has 19 major doubles titles.
