LONDON – The moment arrived seven times before it was final. Mirra Andreeva cancelled six of them, each time erasing a match point with a combination of sheer athleticism and Krejcikova’s fraying nerves. For a stretch late in the third set on Centre Court, the scoreboard seemed to have its own opinion about how this match would end. Then Andreeva’s backhand slice hit the net cord, rose, and sailed long. The match was over.
Krejcikova, the 2024 Wimbledon champion, dropped to her knees. In the stands, a portion of the audience that had spent the afternoon tracking England’s World Cup progress on their phones turned to cheer something unfolding directly in front of them. The 30-year-old Czech, ranked No. 38 and working her way back from a year disrupted by back and knee injuries, had just knocked out the 19-year-old French Open champion who arrived at the All England Club seeded fifth. The final score was 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, and it took 2 hours and 46 minutes.
Andreeva had claimed the Roland Garros title just three weeks earlier, winning her first Grand Slam on the slow red clay of Paris. Wimbledon grass is a different problem entirely: the low bounce and quick skid neutralise heavy spin, punish servers who cannot find consistent free points, and reward any opponent willing to slice the ball below knee height. “She plays well,” Andreeva said afterward. “She’s a tricky opponent, especially on grass. Slices and drop shots stay low.” Her serve never found the rhythm it usually carries, giving Krejcikova far too many returns to work with.
Nine aces, 35 winners, 49 unforced errors: Krejcikova’s match statistics read like a player who has not quite finished returning from injury but knows exactly what to do with grass when she gets there. The performance swung between moments of controlled precision and stretched nerves. That she came through it was the story.
She served for the match at 5-3 in the third set. The game that followed will outlast most of what happens in these early rounds. Andreeva saved the first match point, then the second, and four more in sequence, each time with a different combination of returns and winners while Krejcikova hesitated. Andreeva’s bead bracelet had broken at 1-1 in the third set. Her serve had been erratic throughout. On the seventh match point, the backhand went for the net cord and floated long. Krejcikova pointed to the sky.
“What a match. What a match,” she told the crowd when she could speak again, saying she was “extremely proud” to have won on what she called “the best court in the world.” She had been through a great deal with injuries and her personal life, she said, but had put “lots of work and dedication in every single day” in the months leading back here.
Her career record at Wimbledon stands at 18-4 after the victory. Her overall Grand Slam singles record is now 51-21. The win is the largest she has produced on Centre Court since the 2024 final, which she won in straight sets in a significantly cleaner performance.
Andreeva threw her racket when Krejcikova’s final shot cleared the net. She composed herself quickly, saying afterward that she had “chances, some opportunities” but that they didn’t go her way. The French Open title remains. The Wimbledon second round is where this summer ends.
Elsewhere on a full Wednesday at the All England Club, Coco Gauff survived Solana Sierra 6-3, 3-6, 7-6, coming back from 4-7 down in the third-set tiebreak to reach the third round in a match that demanded considerably more than the opening set suggested. Aryna Sabalenka was more direct against McCartney Kessler, winning 6-1, 7-6(11-9), a thirteen-point second-set tiebreak hinting at how tight the margins get here even at the top of the draw. Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner also advanced to the third round, as Eastern Herald reported.
Krejcikova faces Nikola Bartunkova in the third round, a Czech compatriot who will arrive knowing the same grass that troubled Krejcikova on Wednesday will pose the same questions. What the rest of the draw cannot yet answer is whether Krejcikova’s body has enough left to sustain what Wednesday promised.
