Marketa Vondrousova became the first unseeded player in the Open Era to win the Wimbledon women's singles title with a straight-sets victory over an off-colour Ons Jabeur in Saturday's final on Centre Court.
The world number 42 - who missed last year's tournament after undergoing a wrist operation - took 80 minutes to complete a stunning 6-4 6-4 win over Jabeur, who has now lost back-to-back Wimbledon finals following her defeat to Elena Rybakina in last year's showpiece.
Vondrousova also became the lowest-ranked female player to win the Wimbledon women's singles title since the WTA Rankings were introduced, breaking Jabeur six times during a topsy-turvy encounter and collapsing to the ground after converting her second Championship point.
Early nerves were evident on both sides during a nervy opening, and even though Jabeur would draw first blood with a break in the second game, the unstirred Vondrousova broke back straight away.
As a plethora of forehands found the net, Jabeur became increasingly antagonised, and the Tunisian missed four chances to break her opponent in the fourth game before redeeming herself to establish a 4-2 lead.
However, the sixth seed soon suffered a calamitous capitulation, as Vondrousova capitalised on a collection of errors from her counterpart to win four games in a row, breaking in the ninth as Jabeur inexplicably fluffed a smash before missing a backhand and ceding the first set with a whimper.
© Reuters
There were shades of the pair's recent Australian Open showdown on Centre Court, where Jabeur made a half-century of unforced errors during her early exit Down Under, and the Tunisian was made to pay for landing just 44% of her first serves in the opening set of Saturday's final.
A quick comfort break initially did little to help a dejected Jabeur, whose tribulations continued as Vondrousova immediately went a set and a break up, leaving the Tunisian's team and the Centre Court crowd in bewilderment.
However, last year's runner-up - who has become renowned for her fightbacks at Wimbledon this year - belatedly rediscovered her best tennis to get the second set back on serve straight away, much to the delight of the previously stunned audience.
Jabeur had been given a new lease of life as she broke for a second time to move 3-1 up, but the African was soon brought crashing back down to earth, as she quickly lost serve to a defiant Vondrousova once again during an increasingly unpredictable contest.
The unseeded Czech continued to defend adequately and benefitted from more uncharacteristic mistakes from Jabeur, who looked devoid of belief after being broken for the sixth time in the match, leaving Vondrousova one hold away from glory.
The 24-year-old raced into a 40-0 lead on serve to give herself three opportunities to seal the title, and despite squandering one on a double fault, Vondrousova made no mistake on a close-range backhand volley to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish aloft.
No Data Analysis info
