THE ALL ENGLAND CLUB, London — The Czech Republic will have yet another Wimbledon women’s champion on Saturday, with Linda Nosková defeating Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday to set up a final against compatriot Karolína Muchová.
The winner will follow in the footsteps of Jana Novotná, Petra Kvitová, Markéta Vondroušová and Barbora Krejčíková as Czech winners here in the last 30 years. And before them was Martina Navratilova, the nine-time champion, who was born and raised in what was then Czechoslovakia before defecting to the United States in 1975.
Nosková, who at 21 is eight years younger than Saturday’s final opponent, has a game that, like Muchová’s, appears perfect for grass — albeit in a very different way. Where Muchová is all about slice, variety and a daring net game, Nosková has a simpler style, built around her devastating serve. It has been particularly potent at Wimbledon these last couple of weeks, and could well take her all the way to the title in a couple of days time. Against Kostyuk on Thursday, she won 74 percent of her first-serve points, and didn’t face a break point until midway through the second set.
Which isn’t to say she’s one-dimensional. Like Muchová, Nosková is also an accomplished volleyer — winning 13 of 16 points at the net against Kostyuk.
But there is a beautiful simplicity to her game, which was underlined by her first-set performance — an exhibition in controlled, clinical grass-court tennis. Nosková didn’t face a break point and generally held comfortably, before breaking right at the end of it. It was straight out of the Pete Sampras manual for how to win matches on this court, pouncing when it mattered most.
After an even first eight games, Nosková won eight of the last nine points of the set to claim it 6-4. Kostyuk hadn’t done much wrong, but with Nosková serving and her hitting her forehand this well, one loose game is all it takes to lose a set.
Such was the security of Nosková’s serving that she appeared to be on course for a comfortable win when she broke early in the second for 3-1. Doing so to love in a sequence of seven straight points won. But Kostyuk had won 21 of her previous 22 matches and wasn’t going to go away without a fight. She battled hard to dig out a break back for 3-2, and went on an eight-point run of her own. A very linear first set had suddenly given way to something much more undulating.
But Nosková, on the verge of emulating so many of her compatriots and reaching the Wimbledon final, made sure that any nerves were only temporary. She steadied herself on serve and again pounced when Kostyuk was serving to stay in the match, bringing up two break points and seeing Kostyuk send a ball long the second.
After winning the Berlin Tennis Open a couple of weeks before Wimbledon, Nosková looks like the grass-court player to beat at the moment.
On Saturday, she has the chance to secure that status — and become a Grand Slam champion for the first time.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Tennis, Top Sports News, Women’s Tennis
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