By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, July 13, 2023
World No. 42 Marketa Vondrousova stopped Elina Svitolina's storybook run, 6-3, 6-3, to make history as the first unseeded Wimbledon women's finalist in the Open Era.
Photo credit: Mike Hewitt/Getty
Wimbledon—Stepping on Centre Court for the first time, Marketa Vondrousova wasted no time ruling tennis’ most regal real estate.
Controlling the center of the court with conviction, Vondrousova swept Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-3 to roar into her first Wimbledon final.
More: Phone Call Helped Vondrousova Dial Up Victory
In the first Wimbledon semifinal between unseeded women, Vondrousova lasered her lefty forehand with vigor and mixed unsettling drop shots surging through seven straight games to take charge ending Svitolina’s storybook run to make history of her own.
Showing no fear facing sentimental favorite Svitolina and a Centre Court crowd overwhelmingly backing the pride of Ukraine, Vondrousova continued her resilient run becoming the first unseeded Wimbledon women’s finalist in Open Era history.
It is the second Grand Slam final for the Olympic silver medalist, who did not drop a set en route to the 2019 Roland Garros final where she fell to Ash Barty.
Serving for the biggest final of her career, Vondrousova zapped her fourth ace for match point.
When Svitolina’s final forehand missed the mark, the 24-year-old Czech dropped to a knee and broke into a wide smile.
The world No. 42 is the second-lowest ranked Wimbledon women’s finalist in history and the fourth Czech woman to reach the final joining Jana Novotna, Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova.
“I can’t believe it,” Vondrousova said. “I’m very happy I had the final. She’s such a great fighter, such a great person.
Vondrousova will face 2022 finalist Ons Jabeur in Saturday’s final, which may well be played beneath the closed Centre Court roof as today’s opening semifinal was, if the weekend weather forecast of rain is accurate.
The sixth-seeded Jabeur rallied past Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 denying the second-ranked Belarusian the No. 1 ranking in the process.
Playing for her second career title and first grass-court crown, Vondrousova has split six career meetings with Jabeur. The Czech prevailed 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 at the Australian Open then backed it up with a 7-6(5), 6-4 win at Indian Wells.
However, Jabeur won their lone prior grass encounter 6-3, 7-6(4) at the 2021 Eastbourne and is a more accomplished player on lawn winning a Tour-best 28 matches on grass since the start of 2021.
"I feel like we're the same in some things," Vondrousova said of Jabeur. "We're playing dropshots. We're playing slice. That's more my game than Sabalenka's. But we played few times already this year. We were supposed to play in Eastbourne also first round, but I withdrew.
"Yeah, she played finals here last year. She was playing also US Open final. She's used to playing finals in a Grand Slam. I mean, it's a final, so it's going to be tough match no matter who is there."
The tattooed Vondrousova was belting the ball as if intent on branding it with her own mark before carressing soft droppers into the front court to unsettle Svitolina.
World No. 76 Svitolina was playing to become the first Ukrainian woman to reach a Grand Slam singles final and the third wild card to play a major final.
Svitolina poured so much heart, grit and spirit into the tournament knocking off four Grand Slam champions—Venus Williams, Sofia Kenin, Victoria Azarenka and world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals—but looked depleted and a bit emotionally flat today.
That’s understandable given all Svitolina’s been through in recent months from giving birth to her first child with husband Gael Monfils, daughter Skai Monfils, last October 15th to her role as a national hero on behalf of her war-ravaged Ukrainian homeland.
Driven to bring hope and joy to her people, Svitolina suffered her second Wimbledon semifinal loss following her setback to Simona Halep in 2019.
"For sure it's a big motivation, but as you mentioned, it's a lot of responsibility, a lot of tension," Svitolina said. "I try to balance it as much as I can.
"But, yeah, sometimes it gets maybe too much. But I don't want to take it as an excuse that I lost today. I try to take it as a motivation for me. I just hope that Ukrainian people continue supporting me. It was really amazing. And, yeah, just hope that I'm going to get another chance."
Exuding more energy, Vondrousova whipped her lefty forehand crosscourt driving Svitolina into the corners and deployed deceptive drop shots to thwart the speedy Svitolina from establishing rhythm.
Though she played this match like a Wimbledon veteran, Vondrousova, who arrived at SW19 with only four main-draw grass-court wins to her credit, conceded this was a nerve-wracking test despite her dominance for a set-and-a-half.
“I was crazy nervous,” Vondrousova said. “I was nervous the whole match. I just tried to fight every game.”
Deadlocked at 3-all, Vondrousova unleashed the type of dynamic tennis she showed tearing through the final give games in her 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 comeback conquest of No. 4 Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals.
The left-hander rolled through eight of nine points breaking at 15. Curling her slider serve out wide on the ad side to displace Svitolina, Vondrousova stamped a love hold to back up the break for 5-3.
By then, Svitolina was grunting at times, while a quiet Vondrousva was ripping away.
Vondrousova’s variation played a pivotal part in this match.
Lofting a lob, she flashed a forehand pass down the line for set point. Stabbing back a lunging return, Vondrousova snatched a one-set lead when Svitolina pushed a forehand wide to end the 29-minute opener.
Controlling the ball on the run beautifully, Vondrousova was on the full stretch when she poked a pass down the line for break point in the second game of the second set.
Unloading a crackling forehand down the middle rattled an error as Vondrousova broke again for 2-0.
When she wasn’t drilling drives, the Czech was dripping droppers. In a play reminiscent of another lefty Yonex shotmaker, former No. 1 Marcelo Rios, Vondrousova used an exquisite drop-shot lob winner combination holding at love for her sixth straight game and a 3-0 lead.
Svitolina stopped her seven-game slide to break back for 1-4 and spark a three-game run closing to 3-4.
That was the final push for the pride of Ukraine. Bumping a half-volley into net and scattering a forehand Svitolina dropped serve in the eighth game.
A confident Vondrousova served it out to reach her second Grand Slam final improving to 2-0 lifetime in major semifinals and continuing a successful comeback.
A year ago, Vondrousova attended Wimbledon qualifying as a spectator wearing a cast on her surgically-repaired wrist. Her ranking fell to No. 99 at the end of 2022, her long-time apparel and shoe sponsor, Nike, dropped her declining to renew her four-year pact and Vondrousova didn't return to court until last October.
Today, nearly a year to the day after her July 16th, 2022 wedding to partner, Stepan Simek, Vondrousova is revitalized, playing pain-free and drawing pleasure from every match she plays.
"I mean, after everything I've been through, two surgeries, it's not always easy to come back," Vondrousova said. "Yeah, you don't know if you can play at this level and if you can be back at the top and back at these tournaments.
"I just feel like I'm just grateful to be on a court again, to play without pain. I'm just really grateful for it."