Wimbledon: Karolina Muchova vs Linda Noškova in All-Czech final as women’s singles draw continues tennis news

The last time two women from the same country contested the singles final at Wimbledon was in 2009.

It will come as little surprise that Serena Williams competes with sister Venus for the Venus Rosewater dish.

That day, Serena came in straight sets, ending the reign of two-time defending champion Venus as the American won her third Wimbledon title and 11th major title overall.

Saturday, Karolina Muchova and Linda Noškova compete in an all-Czech final Another surprise followed the women’s draw.

A woman hasn’t successfully defended their title since 2016 and — yes, you guessed it — take another bow, Serena.

Eight different winners have since lifted their hands on the trophy. Yet only 2022 winner Elena Rybakina showed brief glimpses of defending her title before a last-eight defeat in 2023.

Ashley Barty may stand the best chance of winning on the back if the 2021 champion is just 25 years old and the world No. 1 doesn’t decide to announce her shock retirement from the game.

Even this year, defending champion Iga Suatek was considered one of the favorites for the title given world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka’s below-par record at Wimbledon.

But she suffered a setback in mid-Saturday, losing in straight sets to 29th seed Alexandra Ila on Center Court, minutes after Rybakina also made her first appearance on Court No. 1 to 25th seed Elise Mertens.

And when Sabalenka lost in straight sets to an inspired Naomi Osaka the following day, the entire women’s draw was thrown open again.

There were no past Wimbledon champions left in the draw when Barbora Krejcikova was knocked out by Saturday’s finalist Muchova in the fourth round.

Muchova is preparing for a second major final

With a new champion preparing to be crowned, Muchova at least has the grand final experience to call for a showdown.

Muchova, world number 43 three years ago, ran into defending champion Suatek in the French Open semi-finals over Sabalenka, who cemented her hold on the clay-court major with a third Roland Garros title in four years.

Outside of that lone major final, Muchova has reached two semifinals at the US Open, but this year’s run at Wimbledon has been nothing short of remarkable given her previous record on the southwest London grass.

The 29-year-old has not gone past the first round of the Championships in the past four years but headed into this fortnight with some pedigree on grass to win the Bad Homburg title in the tune-up event – although Osaka had to retire a set down 1-0 down.

On the opposite side of the court on Saturday, the 21-year-old Noskova became the youngest Wimbledon women’s finalist since Eugenie Bouchard in 2014.

Noskova no doubt needs reminding that it was compatriot Petra Kvitova who blew the 20-year-old away on Center Court that day, winning 6-3 6-0.

But then Czech women had a love affair with Wimbledon grass courts.

What is the secret of Czech women’s success at Wimbledon?

Saturday will provide the third check winner of the women’s draw in the past four years. For a country of 10.9 million people, they are punching above their weight in the standings, with eight Czech women currently in the WTA Top 50.

After her semi-final win over Marta Kostyuk, Noskova was asked why her nation had such great success on grass.

“It’s a tradition at the moment, I guess, but I would say we all grew up in the Czech Republic in the same way, in our style of play, in our tennis, but in some ways we’re very different.

“We are very creative, I would say, so the grass allows us to use any aspect of tennis, if it is serve and volley in the old days, if it is slice and volley in this new era. I would say that we have all these aspects that we can use, that grass allows us and it shows.”

When asked the same question, Muchová said that seeing the success of other Czech players gave her confidence in her own abilities.

“We have a great history of Czech tennis,” he said. “Of course it’s true that there are a lot of us. Myself, when I was younger, looking at girls five years older than me, you could see they were doing so well.

“It gave me the belief that I could do it too. That’s how it worked for me.

“It’s good that we come from such a small country and we have so many good players.”

One thing is guaranteed on Saturday – there will be more Czech victories to cheer. Whether that player can retain the Wimbledon crown is a question that can be saved for another day.