Marketa Vondrousova wins Wimbledon as Ons Jabeur falls at last hurdle again

Marketa Vondrousova defeated favourite Ons Jabeur in straight sets to make history as the first unseeded women’s singles champion at Wimbledon.

There have been a string of surprise slam winners in a period of flux for the women’s game but Wimbledon had been the exception until now, with Czech Vondrousova taking advantage of a nervous performance from Jabeur to claim a 6-4 6-4 victory.

The irony is it comes at a time when a new big three comprising of Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and last year’s Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina have established themselves at the top of the game.

Jabeur certainly deserves to be in the conversation, too, given this was her third final appearance at the last five slams and that she accounted for Rybakina and Sabalenka in the previous two rounds.

The Tunisian admitted ahead of facing Rybakina that it was still too painful to watch last year’s final and she desperately wanted to make it third time lucky and become the first north African and Arab grand slam singles champion.

Jabeur was slapping her thigh in frustration as early as the third game and in the end was simply not able to find that composure that she needed.

Both the sixth seed and Vondrousova possess a box of tricks, preferring to dissect opponents using slices, drop shots and lobs rather than trying to bully from the baseline.

The roof was closed despite conditions being dry, meaning the high winds forecast would not be a factor, and Vondrousova took full advantage to land a perfect lob on to the baseline on the first point.

But, with the Princess of Wales and tennis royalty Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King watching from the front row of the Royal Box, it was Jabeur who claimed the early advantage.

She used her extra power