A first-time Wimbledon women’s singles champion will be crowned for the seventh year in a row as Jasmine Paolini battles Barbora Krejcikova on Saturday.
Seventh seed Paolini had never before won a match at the All England Club but the Italian has become the first woman to reach the French Open and Wimbledon finals in the same year since Serena Williams in 2016.
And Czech 31st seed Krejcikova – the 2021 French Open winner – had failed to go beyond the fourth round in SW19 until beating American Danielle Collins earlier this week.
Here, the PA news agency looks ahead to day 13 at Wimbledon.
Another first-time champion incoming
Since Serena Williams won her seventh Wimbledon title in 2016, there have been six first-time women’s singles winners in six Championships. A seventh is guaranteed on Saturday.
Krejcikova is looking to become the fifth Czech player to lift the women’s title.
One of them was Jana Novotna, who famously cried on the shoulder of the Duchess of Kent after losing the 1993 final against Steffi Graf before finally lifting the trophy five years later. She took a teenage Krejcikova under her wing but died of cancer in 2017, aged only 49.
Krejcikova said: “I’m thinking about Jana a lot. I have so many beautiful memories and, when I step on the court here, I’m just fighting for every single ball because that’s what I think she would want me to do. I hope she would be proud.”
Paolini is the first Italian to reach a Wimbledon final.
Before this season she had never been beyond the second round of a grand slam but she reached the fourth round in Australia and then got to the final hurdle at Roland Garros.
“Two grand slam finals in a row was crazy to believe,” the 28-year-old said. “I’m surprised a little bit how I’m managing this.”
Brit watch
Eight years ago Henry Patten was sat on an outside court compiling stats for IBM. Now, he’s a Wimbledon finalist.
The 28-year-old said: “While I was at college, I worked for IBM doing the courtside stats. You’re either put in the outside courts team or if you’re good and switched on, then you get put on the show court team. And I was always on the outside!”
He will take to Centre Court on Saturday when he teams with Finland’s Harri Heliovaara in the men’s doubles final.
Patten added: “Every single year I would watch Wimbledon and it’s surreal. It’s surreal to even be playing it to be honest. I feel very privileged to be able to be a part of a final here.”
Other business
For the first time since 2018, Hsieh Su-wei turned up at Wimbledon and failed to win the women’s doubles.
She was beaten in the semi-finals alongside Elise Mertens.
Their conquerors, Czech Katerina Siniakova and American Taylor Townsend, will face the second seeds, New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski, in Saturday’s final.
Meanwhile, Dutch wheelchair ace Diede de Groot is on for a 15th-successive grand slam singles title as she faces compatriot Aniek van Koot in the women’s singles final.
Order of play
Centre Court from 2pm:
Jasmine Paolini (7) v Barbora Krejcikova (31)
Henry Patten/Harri Heliovaara v Max Purcell/Jordan Thompson (15) (men’s doubles final)
Gabriela Dabrowski/Erin Routliffe (2) v Katerina Siniakova/Taylor Townsend (4) (women’s doubles final)
Court One from 11am:
Diede de Groot (1) v Aniek van Koot (4) (women’s wheelchair final)
Kim Clijsters/Martina Hingis v Cara Black/Sam Stosur (invitational doubles)
Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan v James Blake/Bruno Soares (invitational doubles)
Weather
Overcast changing to sunny intervals by early evening, with highs of 19, according to the Met Office.