Czech Marketa Vondrousova wins her first Grand Slam

2023-07-15 16:39:00

The 42nd player in the world beat, this Saturday, in the final of the British tournament on grass, the Tunisian Ons Jabeur (6th) in two sets.

By LL with AFP Marketa Vondrousova during her victory in the Wimbledon final on Sunday. © GLYN KIRK / AFP Published on 07/15/2023 at 4:39 p.m.

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She won her first Grand Slam tournament. The Czech Marketa Vondrousova, 42nd in the world, won Saturday in the Wimbledon final against the Tunisian Ons Jabeur (6th) 6-4, 6-4. Vondrousova, 24, had reached the French Open final in 2019 but had won just two matches on grass in her career arriving at Wimbledon this year. Jabeur, still in pursuit of a Grand Slam title, lost her third major final after Wimbledon and the US Open last year.

With this victory, Vondrousova will reach, on Monday, the best ranking of her career at 10th place. Her highest ranking until then was the 16th place achieved in 2019. She was the first non-seeded Wimbledon finalist of the Open era (since 1968) and first since Billie Jean King in 1963.

The third Czech to win

While playing her 21st Grand Slam tournament, Vondrousova became the third Czech to win at Wimbledon after Jana Novotna and Petra Kvitova. On Saturday, Jabeur started the match perfectly by immediately succeeding in the break to break away 2-0. But she couldn’t keep the advantage, neither this time nor when she led again 4-2.

The 28-year-old Tunisian missed the next four games and the set, committing many unforced errors like the one that gave Vondrousova a break point at 4-4: a first smash with little pressure on her opponent followed by a volley forehand high out of bounds. For the first time in front of the score, the Czech thus served for the set at 5-4. And did not hesitate to conclude on a white game.

READ ALSOTennis: Carlos Alcaraz joins Novak Djokovic in the final of the Wimbledon tournamentOn her way, Vondrousova managed the break at the start of the second set, but under an ovation from the public, Jabeur lined up three plays (double break) to regain the lead 3-1. Serious but without sparks, Vondrousova came back to 3-3.

As in the first set, the two players came to 4-4 where Jabeur offered the break to Vondrousova who, at 5-4, served this time to win the match. She offered herself three consecutive match points. After spoiling the first on a double fault, she won the second on a volley.