Williams was unable to take advantage of early chances against Spain’s Garbiñe Muguruza — who only grew more accurate and confident as the match progressed.
Garbiñe Muguruza won her first Wimbledon title by overcoming Venus Williams in a women’s final that was marked by long rallies and creative shotmaking. Williams was unable to take advantage of early chances against Spain’s Muguruza — who only grew more accurate and confident as the match progressed.
At age 37, Williams lost a chance to win her sixth Wimbledon singles title. She won in women’s doubles at this tournament last year, playing with her sister, Serena, who’s in the final trimester of her pregnancy.
This had been expected to be a close, tight match, and for most of the first set, it lived up to its billing.
Both players held their serves through the match’s first 10 games — including a key save by Muguruza, who escaped the first break point for either player to keep it even at 3-3. In the next game, Williams defended her own break point.
Williams finally faltered in the eleventh game, hitting a shot long after a spirited rally to give Muguruza a 6-5 advantage that cleared the way for her to take the first set.
Williams unraveled from the start of the second set, losing on her serve to get into an 0-1 hole against Muguruza. Williams then sprayed unforced errors around the court in the next game, and despite recovering with some inspired shotmaking, she only won two points to create a 2-0 deficit. Muguruza then broke Williams’ serve in short order to take control, 3-0.
The second set was over in a blur, with Muguruza hammering accurate shots and Williams unable to regain any momentum.
Muguruza had reached this final with the help of her play at the net — she won 18 of the 24 points in which she approached the net in the semifinal. Against Williams, she created pressure from the baseline, using an accurate backhand to foil Williams when the American approached the net.
