Barbora Krejcikova held off a charge from seventh-seeded Jasmine Paolini to win her second singles Grand Slam championship, capturing her first Wimbledon title 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 on Saturday in London. The win for Krejcikova came amid a season filled with injury, illness and doubts about her game. The 2021 French Open champion, she became the second consecutive Czech woman to win at Wimbledon, following Marketa Vondrousova in 2023. Since Serena Williams won the second of her back-to-back titles in 2016, Wimbledon has seen seven different women win. Perhaps no one was more unlikely on paper to win than Krejcikova, the 31st seed, who dominated the first set in the match of 28-year-olds, thanks to her serve. She won 10 of the first 11 points and completed 84 percent (16 of 19) points of her first serve, compared to 52 percent (12 of 23) for Paolini. She broke the Italian's serve twice in the first set. The second set, however, went Paolini's way as she opened with a win, broke Krejcikova's serve twice and tallied eight winners against the Czech's 14 unforced errors. By the third set, both women were on their game, with the only stumble coming with Paolini serving at 3-3. But once she double faulted to lose the game, she had too little time left to recapture the break point. Paolini made a valiant effort in the final game, with the Czech serving at 5-4, gaining two break points and fighting off two match points, but fell when Krejcikova hit an unreturnable serve on the third match point. It was the second straight Grand Slam final loss for Paolini, who fell to Iga Swiatek of Poland in straight sets at the French Open. "Today I'm a little bit sad," Paolini said. "I try just to, you know, keep smiling because I have to remember that today it's still a good day." She recounted watching Wimbledon finals -- usually cheering for eight-time champion Roger Federer -- and recognized the achievement of finally playing on the same stage. "To be here right now, it's crazy. It's crazy, and I think I enjoyed every moment here. It's been a beautiful two weeks." As for Krejcikova, she now is 12-1 in the final of a major -- 2-0 in singles, 3-0 in mixed doubles and 7-1 in doubles. She also won gold in the doubles in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Despite her stellar record in big finals, Krejcikova was surprised to be holding the Wimbledon trophy. She said the people of the Czech Republic would be shocked, too. "I think nobody really believes it," she said. "I think nobody believes that I got to the final and I think nobody's gonna believe that I won Wimbledon. I mean, I still cannot believe it. It's unbelievable." --Field Level Media
Jul 11, 2024; London, United Kingdom; Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) celebrates after her match against Elena Rybakina (KAZ)(not pictured) in a ladies' singles semifinal of The Championships Wimbledon 2024 at The All England Lawn Tennis Club. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports