Romanian tennis star Simona Halep stunned Serena Williams to win her first Wimbledon title.
ADVERTISEMENTRomanian tennis star Simona Halep stunned Serena Williams to win her first Wimbledon title.
The 27-year-old beat the American — who has triumphed on seven previous occasions at the London championship — in straight sets, 6-2 6-2.
Halep becomes the first Romanian to win the Wimbledon title.
For Williams it prolongs her wait to try and equal Margaret Court's record 24 singles majors.
Halep broke serve in the opening game and raced into a 4-0 lead. She remained rock solid throughout and Williams simply could not respond.
There were signs that Williams was finding her range in the second set but Halep was undaunted and reeled off the last five games, the contest ending after Williams buried a forehand into the net after 56 minutes.
It means Williams is still waiting to add to her Grand Slam collection after giving birth to daughter Olympia in September 2017.
She looked out of ideas and lost after making her 26th unforced error.
"She played out of her mind," Williams, who had won nine of her previous 10 matches against Halep, said on court after picking up the runners-up salver.
"It was a little bit a deer in headlights for me. Whenever a player plays like that you just have to take your hat off."
Until Saturday the only other Romanian to reach the Wimbledon final was Ilie Nastase who twice finished runner-up, in 1972 and 1976. But Halep went one better as she added the Wimbledon crown to the French Open she won in 2018.
"It's something very special and I'll never forget this day. It was my mum's dream when I was about 10. The day came," former world number one Halep said.
"Well I had nerves, my stomach wasn't well before. But I knew there was no time for emotions so I just came out on court to do my best."
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