Marketa Vondrousova stuns Ons Jabeur to become the FIRST unseeded woman in history to win Wimbledon as she beats heavy favourite in straight-sets 6-4, 6-4 to claim her maiden Grand Slam
- The first set saw five breaks in total with Jabeur hitting 15 unforced errors as she struggled early on
- Nerves seemed to get the better of the favourite as she lost for the third time in a Grand Slam final
- The game finished 6-4, 6-4 as both players shows their emotions at the presentation following the game
- Latest Wimbledon 2023 news, including schedule, travel updates and results
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World number 42 Marketa Vondrousova became another unforeseen Wimbledon women’s champion when she claimed a strangely undulating final amid a welter of errors from Ons Jabeur.
The popular Tunisian was left deeply frustrated again with a third Grand Slam final going begging as she went down 6-4 6-4 in an hour and 20 minutes.
In an unusual move it was decided to close the roof due to the wind, rather than rain, and the extra control afforded would help the more expansive Czech, who in previous matches such as against Elina Svitolina had played markedly better when protected from disruption from the elements.
Jabeur made too many mistakes, and will be left wondering what might have been against a conservative opponent who hit ten winners over the two sets.
The Princess of Wales was present, with no chance of her having to present the trophy to a Belarussian. Instead it would either be the world number 42, or last year’s beaten finalist who had surged through the field after a relatively mediocre year.
Marketa Vondrousova became the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon as she beat Ons Jabeur in straight sets
Jabeur fell short in her bid to become the first African woman to win the title as she lost on centre court
The Princess of Wales was present to hand out the trophies on Centre Court following the conclusion of the game
Jabeur had beaten some big hitters on the way to the final and this would be a different challenge against the rangy lefthander who relies more on her use of angles and spins than crunching the ball through the court.
The Tunisian looked slightly nervous in the opening points, but quickly looked more at ease temporarily – as she forced an early break by driving deep the Czech’s forehand.
The advantage was shortlived as Vondrousova broke back amid some notably long rallies that suggested the crowd was going to get some value for the hefty £255 per ticket they had paid.
Breaks were swapped as, strangely, both players were winning more points on return than serve. Jabeur slid to 4-5 down as her first serve percentage dropped below 50, and she looked increasingly stressed by the lefthanded blows coming at her, struggling to get her groundstrokes in by the time she dropped the first set.
Things were fast unravelling when she was broken for 1-0 in the second set and at the changeover elected to walk round the net on the opposite side to her chair.
The crowd was trying to lift her and finally it seemed to work when she stopped missing and struck a couple of glorious backhands to break back.
Jabeur broke down after the game as she promised to come back and ‘make it one day’ as she lost her third Grand Slam final
Her game was littered with unforced errors despite looking in control of play for the majority of the final on the grass
In this strangely see-sawing encounter she looked to have snapped out of it at 3-1, but again the Czech came back with Jabeur’s body language notably drooping once more.
At 4-4 she made a succession of misses to get broken, and Vondrousova served it out with a relative lack of drama, punching away a forehand volley on her second match point.
‘This is very tough, I think this is the most painful loss of my career,’ she said after the game. ‘It’s been a tough day but I’m not going to give up, I am going to come back stronger, it was an amazing tournament for me I just wish I could have continued it until the end,’ said a tearful Jabeur on court.
‘After everything I had been through I had a cast on my wrist this time last year, tennis is crazy,’ said Vondrousova who was in London as a tourist this time a year ago.