Article #67282

• The 2024 women’s singles champion won 4-6, 7-5, 6-4

• Teenager says loss will ‘take some time’ to get over

Four women in the post-1968 Open era have won singles titles on the slow red clay of Roland Garros and ­Wimbledon’s lightning-fast grass before their 20th birthdays. As Mirra Andreeva, the 19-year-old winner of last month’s French Open, walked on to Centre Court here on Wednesday to face Barbora Krejcikova – already a winner of both European grand slams – she had fair hopes of joining Maureen Connolly, Evonne Goolagong, Chris Evert and Steffi Graf on that list.

Andreeva left with those hopes extinguished after a hard-fought three-set success for Krejcikova – the 2024 champion here – 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, but with her reputation as a scrapper and shot-maker much enhanced. She showed many of the attributes she will need to succeed here in the years to come.