Wimbledon: Karolina Muchova vs Linda Noskova face off in all-Czech final as women's singles draw continues to surprise

The last time two women from the same nation contested the singles final at Wimbledon was back in 2009.

It will come as little surprise that it was Serena Williams taking on sister Venus for the Venus Rosewater Dish.

On that day, Serena came through in straight sets, ending the reign of two-time defending champion Venus as the American clinched her third Wimbledon title and 11th major overall.

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On Saturday, Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova contest an all-Czech final after the women's draw delivered another surprise showdown.

Not since 2016 has a woman successfully defended their title and - yes, you guessed it - take another bow, Serena.

Eight different winners since have laid their hands on the trophy. Yet only 2022 winner Elena Rybakina showed brief glimpses of defending her title before a last-eight defeat in 2023.

Perhaps Ashleigh Barty might have stood the best chance of back-to-back wins, had the 2021 champion not decided to announce her shock retirement from the sport the following March at just 25 years old and as the world No 1.

Even this year, defending champion Iga Swiatek was considered one of the favourites for the title given world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka's below-par record at Wimbledon.

But she suffered defeat on the middle Saturday, losing in straight sets to 29th-seeded Alexandra Eala on Centre Court, mere minutes after Rybakina also headed for an early exit to 25th seed Elise Mertens over on No 1 Court.

And when the following day Sabalenka crashed to a straight-sets defeat to an inspired Naomi Osaka, the whole women's draw was blown open again.

By the time Barbora Krejcíkova was knocked out in the fourth round - to Saturday's finalist Muchova - there were no past Wimbledon champions left in the draw.

Muchova prepares for second major final

With a new champion preparing to be anointed, Muchova at least has major final experience to call upon for the showdown.

As world No 43 three years ago, Muchova saw off Sabalenka in the semi-finals of the French Open before running into defending champion Swiatek, who tightened her grip on the clay-court major with her third Roland Garros title in four years.

Outside of that lone major final, Muchova has progressed to two semi-finals at the US Open, but this year's run at Wimbledon has been nothing short of outstanding given her previous record on the grass in south west London.

The 29-year-old had not been past the first round of the Championships in the last four years but headed into this fortnight with some pedigree on grass having won the Bad Homburg title in the tune-up event - albeit when Osaka had to retire injured a set and 1-0 down.

On the opposite side of the court on Saturday, 21-year-old Noskova becomes the youngest Wimbledon women's finalist since Eugenie Bouchard in 2014.

Noskova will no doubt not need reminding that it was compatriot Petra Kvitova who blew the 20-year-old away on Centre Court that day, winning 6-3 6-0.

But then Czech women have had something of a love affair with the Wimbledon grass courts.

What is the secret behind Czech women's Wimbledon success?

Saturday will deliver the third Czech winner of the women's draw in the last four years. For a country of 10.9 million people, they are punching above their weight in the standings, with currently eight Czech women in the WTA top 50.

Noskova was asked after her semi-final win over Marta Kostyuk why her nation has had great success on the grass.

"It's a tradition at this point, I would guess, but I would say we are all kind of brought up in the same way in Czechia, in our game styles, in our tennis, but in some ways we are very different.

"We are very creative, I would say, so grass allows us to kind of use any side of tennis, if it's serve and volley back in the old days, if it's slices and volleys in this new era. I would say that we have all these sides that we can use, that grass allows us, and it's showing."

When asked the same question, Muchova said watching the success of other Czech players gave her confidence in her own abilities.

"We have a great history of Czech tennis," she said. "Definitely the fact that there is so many of us. Myself, when I was younger, looking up to the girls who were maybe five years older than I was, you can just see them doing so well.

"It gave me the belief that I can as well do it. That's how it worked for me.

"It's nice that we're from such a small country and we have so many good players."

One thing is guaranteed on Saturday - there will be more Czech triumph to cheer. Whether that player can go on to retain the Wimbledon crown is a question that can be saved for another day.