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The 2024 Wimbledon women’s singles final is set: Jasmine Paolini will face Barbora Krejcikova for the right to lift the coveted Venus Rosewater dish for the first time in her career.
Both competitors took advantage of the draw, which led to earlier defeats for higher-seeded players such as Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and defending champion Marketa Vondrousova, while world No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka withdrew before the start of the tournament. .
Paolini has already made history by becoming the first Italian woman to reach the Wimbledon final and is seeking her first Grand Slam title after falling short in the French Open final last month.
Former Roland Garros champion and world No. 2 Krejcikova is looking to capture her second major title as she continues to bounce back from a year where she has suffered injuries and consecutive defeats.
The finals begin at 9 a.m. ET on Saturday, July 13 and will take place on Wimbledon’s famous Center Court.
Fans can watch all the action live on ESPN as well as on ESPN.com and ESPN+.
It’s been a remarkable year for Paolini.
The Italian started the year ranked world No. 29, her first appearance in the top 30 since her WTA Main Tour debut in 2017.
At 28, Paolini had to wait for singles success on the biggest stage while watching her peers compete in Grand Slam finals at age 20 or even in their teens.
After reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open in January, her real success came at the Dubai Championships in February, where she defeated Anna Kalinskaya to win her first WTA 1000 title. She reached 14th position in the world rankings and after that there was no looking back.
Paolini recently made a surprise appearance in the French Open final, defeating former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the quarterfinals and 17-year-old rising star Mira Andreeva in the semifinals. He was ultimately defeated by dominant Swiatek, but his unexpected run to the final shocked the tennis world.
Paolini, coming into Wimbledon this year seeded seventh, had never won a match on the lawn of SW19. He had not even won the first qualifying round. It would be easy to dismiss her trip to the Roland Garros final as a one-off, given that she had never got past the second round of a Grand Slam in her entire career before this year’s Australian Open.
Wins over players like Bianca Andreescu, Madison Keys and Emma Navarro proved that her success at the Slams this year was not due to luck. She defeated Donna Vekic in the semi-finals in a nearly three-hour classic on Thursday.
Her meteoric rise to the WTA Top 10 and making back-to-back major finals was certainly unexpected, but Paolini has earned the chance to compete for the most prestigious title in the sport on court, which she did in the semi-finals against Vekic. Was described after. This is the best place to play this kind of match.”
“This past month has been crazy for me,” she said. “I’m just trying to focus on what I have to do on the court, I want to enjoy what I’m doing because I love playing tennis. It’s amazing to play here in this stadium. it’s a dream. I’ve been watching the Wimbledon final since I was a kid, so I’m enjoying it and just living in the moment.
Krejcikova has already achieved a career-best Wimbledon result this year, having never previously advanced beyond the fourth round of the tournament.
Winning on the WTA Tour is nothing new for the Czech star and she has seven titles to her credit, the biggest of which is her 2021 French Open win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She has been in and around the top 10 for three years now, although difficult conditions in the first half of the season saw her ranking drop to 32nd.
After an impressive performance in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, she missed the ‘Sunshine Swing’ at Indian Wells and Miami due to injury before suffering three consecutive first round defeats between April and May.
Wimbledon has seen her again in the same form that saw her reach the lofty heights of world No. 2 in 2021. She defeated 11th seed Danielle Collins in the fourth round, who was in tremendous form this year, before defeating Jenna Ostapenko in the quarterfinals and a dramatic comeback win over Rybakina in the semi-finals.
Krejcikova was visibly emotional during her on-court interview after the match, pausing to wipe away tears when asked about her late former coach and mentor Jana Novotna. Novotná, a three-time finalist at the All-England Club, won the Wimbledon title in 1998 and died of cancer in 2017.
“I miss him so much, I miss him so much,” Krejcikova said. “Of course, I remember thinking about Jana a lot. I have a lot of beautiful memories and, when I step out here on the court, I am fighting for every ball and I am sure that is what she would want from me.
“A few years ago I was working with Jana. I mean when we had this conversation I was far away and now I am here. Wow, I’m in the finals!”
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