LONDON, July 12: Linda Nosková put a dramatic second-set collapse behind her to win her first Grand Slam title in a wild Wimbledon final on Saturday.
The winner of the all-Czech clash between Nosková and Karolína Muchová was guaranteed to be the third woman from the central European country to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish in the last four years.
But it was another former Czech champion, the late Jana Novotna, who came to mind when Nosková blew a 5-2 lead in the second set and five match points to send the contest to a decider.
Novotna’s tears on the shoulder of the Duchess of Kent after she squandered an apparently decisive advantage against Steffi Graf in the 1993 final remains one of Wimbledon’s most famous moments.
Novotna had to wait until 1998 for her cathartic winning moment, but 21-year-old Nosková, playing in her first major final, impressively put the disappointment behind her to claim a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 victory.
She is the youngest women’s champion since another Czech, Petra Kvitova, who was watching from the Royal Box, in 2011 and follows in the footsteps of 2023 champion Markéta Vondroušová and 2024 winner Barbora Krejčíková.
–BERNAMA-PA MEDIA/dpa