In just 56 minutes, Simona Halep won her first Wimbledon title. What was even more incredible was it was done against maybe the greatest player the sport has ever seen.
Saturday, Halep took down her American counterpart Serena Williams 6-2, 6-2 denying her of her 24th Grand Slam to tie Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 majors.
A quick start for Halep and a string of uncharacteristic mistakes for Williams was the story of this year’s Women’s final. The Romanian got out to a quick 2-0 lead within five minutes of the match which quickly ballooned to a 4-0 advantage after Williams at times was her own worst enemy.
As the second set came around, Williams managed to get her game a little more steady however Halep kept the foot on the gas playing an almost flawless set before shutting out American in the final game.
Via The Guardian:
“I had nerves,” she said on court. “My stomach was not very well before the match. But I had no time for emotions and just came out and tried my best.
“It was my mum’s dream when I was about 10. And the day came and my mum is here to see it. I have worked a lot to change a little bit my game to play on grass. I started to feel this year when the ball comes to me I knew what to do with it. I can’t wait to come back here.”
In the end, the only thing the 37-year-old Williams could do was tip her hat to Halep.
To further add to the day for Halep, her win comes one year to the date since she lost to an unseeded Hsieh Su-wei in last year’s Wimbledon. Talk about redemption.
