Noskova wastes five championship points. Then she wins Wimbledon.
6-2, 5-7, 6-3. All-Czech. Age 21. Youngest women's champion here since Kvitova in 2011.
Why this final matters
Wimbledon finals are supposed to be appointments with names you already know. On 11 July the names were Czech, seeded 9 and 10, and friends. Linda Noskova is 21. She is now a Grand Slam champion. That sentence did not exist in June.
What actually happened
She led 6-2, 5-2. Karolina Muchova won five games in a row and saved five championship points. The second set went 7-5 to Muchova. In the third, Noskova served for it again, hit an ace to set up a sixth championship point, and converted with a service winner. Score: 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.
BBC, The Athletic and CBS logged the same numbers. Youngest women’s Wimbledon champion since Petra Kvitova in 2011. First Slam. She had already won Berlin on the grass. Sportico put the prize money around $4.8 million, nearly doubling her career on-court earnings.
What it changes
On 8 September she met Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open quarter-finals and lost 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 7-6 (10-7). Wimbledon was the first plot twist. New York ended in a tie-break.
Sources
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