Czech player Barbora Krejcikova wins women’s title

Czech Barbara Krajicikova won her second Grand Slam title by defeating Italian Jasmine Paolini on Saturday to claim her third Grand Slam tennis title at Wimbledon.

World No. 32 Krajcikova defeated Paulini VII 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 to add a grass court title to the French Open 2021.

The former world number two will move up to No.10 following his achievement at the All England Club.

On the other hand, Paolini (28) lost her second consecutive Grand Slam final after the French Open. She was defeated by Polish world number one Iga Swiatek (2-6, 1-6), but despite the defeat, she will rise to world number five on Monday.

Krajcikova’s Wimbledon triumph came 26 years after she was crowned by her coach and inspiration Yana Novotna, who died of cancer in 2017.

The 28-year-old followed in the footsteps of Novotna (1998), Petra Kvitova (2011 and 2014) and Markta Vonderochova (2023) by winning her country its fifth Wimbledon title since independence from Slovakia, noting that Czechoslovakia has won one title at the All England Club by Via Jan Kudic, who was crowned men’s champion in 1973.

The Czech suffered a back injury this year that saw her win just three singles matches in five months, before she returned to form at Wimbledon, where she defeated 11th-ranked American Danielle Collins in the fourth round and former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the fourth round, advancing to the semifinals against Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina (2022 champion).