Marketa Vondrousova wins Wimbledon women’s final for 1st Grand Slam title

Marketa Vondrousova became the lowest-seeded and first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon, defeating runner-up 2022 Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday in London.

Vondrousova is a 24-year-old southpaw from the Czech Republic who ranks 42nd. She was the first unseeded woman to reach the All England Club final since Billie Jean King in 1963.

Vondrousova trailed in every set, but collected the last four games of the first and 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 fell to 0-3 in grand finals. The 28-year-old Tunisian is the only Arab woman and only North African woman to make it this far in singles at a Grand Slam tournament.

But last year she lost to Elena Rybakina at the All England Club and to No. 1 Iga Swiatek at the US Open.

Vondrousova’s rise to the trophy was hard to imagine two weeks ago.

She was 1-4 in previous appearances at Wimbledon before going 7-0 this two weeks. A year ago, Vondrousova couldn’t even compete at Wimbledon, but showed up wearing a cast on her surgically repaired left wrist to cheer on a friend.

Vondrousova was sidelined from April to October due to that injury, finishing in 99th place in 2022.

De Groot conquers wheelchair final ladies

Diede De Groot won her 11th consecutive Grand Slam title by defeating doubles partner Jiske Griffioen 6-2, 6-1 in the women’s wheelchair singles final at Wimbledon on Saturday.

De Groot has won a total of 19 major titles, including five at Wimbledon. Her current winning streak in Grand Slams dates back to the 2021 Australian Open and she now has a chance to secure a third consecutive sweep of all four majors if she wins the US Open in September.

That would also tie Shingo Kunieda’s record of 12 straight Grand Slam wins in wheelchair singles between 2007-11.

The Dutch also extended her tour-level winning streak to 111 matches in a row, dating back to the Melbourne Wheelchair Open in 2021.

De Groot was able to collect even more silverware at Wimbledon when she and Griffioen competed in the wheelchair doubles final.