Czechia star Barbora Krejcikova edged past Italy's Jasmine Paolini to clinch her maiden Wimbledon title in a hard-fought win on Saturday, July 13. The 2021 French Open champion cruised past Paolini in three sets 6-2, 2-6 and 6-4.
The former World No.2 Krejcikova, who was knocked out from the opening round in the French Open 2024, bounced back in some style by winning the title at SW19. She took the opening set 6-2 after breaking the Italian twice. The Czechia star began the game with a break to take a 1-0 lead before holding her serves and breaking Paolini again to lead 4-1. She was dominant in the first serve and took the opener 6-2.
But Paolini stepped up in the second set. She broke Krejcikova to lead 2-0 before doing it again to take the set 6-2 and pull the match back on level. In the deciding set, the two exchanged games by holding their serves before the Czechia earned a break to lead 4-3 when the Italian erred with a double fault. Krejcikova held her serve and then was denied two Championship points on her serve at 5-4 before finding the winner with a strong serve as Paolini sent it wide on the back-hand.
This is the best day of my life. I was just telling myself to be brave even if it got to 5-all. It’s such a great final and a great competition and I’m so happy to be enjoying this moment. I cannot believe it," Krejcikova said after winning the title. "Just two weeks ago I had a very tough first match winning 7-5 in the third set and I wasn’t in good shape before that injured and didn’t have a great beginning to the season now… it’s unbelievable! I’m a Wimbledon winner!” she added.
Paolini praised her opponent for the game she put up in the final. "Hello everybody. You play such beautiful tennis Barbora. Congratulations to you and your team. The last two months have been crazy," Paolini said.
