LONDON: Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic became the first unseeded player in 60 years to reach the Wimbledon women’s final on Thursday, crushing the title dreams of Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.
World number 42 Vondrousova came through 6-3, 6-3 and will face either second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus or last year’s runner-up Ons Jabeur for the title on Saturday.
Left-hander Vondrousova will be playing in her second Grand Slam final after finishing runner-up at the 2019 French Open.
The 24-year-old was rewarded for her attacking approach, breaking serve six times and unleashing 22 winners to Svitolina’s nine.
“I cannot believe it. I am very happy that I made the final. Elina is such a fighter and a great person. It was a tough match,” said the Czech.
“I was crazy nervous. I was nervous the whole match. I was leading 4-0 in the second set and she fought back.”
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Reaching the final comes after a miserable time for the Czech – she underwent a second surgery on her wrist last year, which ruled her out for most of 2022.
“I didn’t play for six months last year and you never know if you can be at that level again,” she said. “I’m so happy to be back out here.”
Svitolina, taking part in her second successive Grand Slam semi-final since returning from maternity leave in April, dropped serve three times in the opening set.
She managed to retrieve the first to level at 3-3 but the Czech broke again in the seventh and ninth games to edge ahead in the tie.
An error-plagued Svitolina quickly fell 4-0 down in the second set.
However, Vondrousova, who had seen off four seeded players to reach the semi-finals, suddenly suffered mid-set jitters as she handed back the breaks to allow Svitolina to pull to 3-4.
Svitolina then undid all her hard work to be broken again in the eighth game before pushing a forehand long to hand her opponent a place in the final.
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