Barbora Krejcikova outbattles pocket-rocket Jasmine Paolini at Wimbledon

Barbora Krejcikova seemed to be having it easy. She dominated Jasmine Paolini in the first set in the 2024 Wimbledon women's final and kept pushing the diminutive Italian far back behind the baseline with powerful forehands that kept nicking the back of the court. The first set was simply too easy.

Paolini has made a habit over the last few months of staying in matches by chasing down balls she had very little business getting to. Her quickness likely frustrated fellow players who assumed they had a point won only to have the Italian not only get to a ball but return it to a spot on the court that appeared impossible. The Italian also has no quit.

So while the first set saw Krejcikova dismantle Paolini - the Czech finished the first set with seven winners to Paolini's zero - the second set became the complete opposite. The Italian stopped overhitting and the Czech seemed to have run out of magic. Perhaps Krejcikova assumed the Wimbledon trophy was easily going to be hers. It wasn't going to be easy, though.

Barbora Krejcikova defeats Jasmine Paolini to win Wimbledon ladies' final

The Italian equaled what the Cezch had done in the first set and the match went to a third after Krejcikova took the first 6-2 and Paolini took the second by the same score.

Perhaps it helped that Krejcikova had won a major final before. She won the French Open in 2021 so she understood how nerves can affect trying to close out a match.

After getting an early break of Paolini in the third set, the Czech simply needed to hold serve to win the grass-court major. The match reached 5-4 with Krejcikova trying to serve out the match. Just as with the second set, though, Paolini was not going to let the game be a smooth one for the Czech.

Krejcikova held one championship point but couldn't push through. Paolini then held a break point and she could not earn a break at the time. The Czech then got another championship point but could not finish. Finally, on her third attempt, she hit a serve deep in the corner and Paolini could only weakly return a ball that landed out of bounds.

The Czech took the final set 6-4. With the Wimbledon win, she will move back into the top 10 of the WTA rankings. Paolini made her earn the win, and Krejcikova, through bombastic shots and an excellent game plan, took it.

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