WIMBLEDON, England — Britain collected its first Wimbledon singles championship in 24 years Saturday. OK, so it wasn’t the men’s title or the women’s title, but it was a title, nonetheless.
Laura Robson, a 14-year-old who was born in Australia but moved to England when she was 6, won the girls title at the All England Club. She beat 16-year-old Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
“Being Wimbledon girls champion sounds really good,” Robson said. “It was great today because the crowd were behind me and it was such an experience.”
Robson is the youngest girls champion at Wimbledon since Martina Hingis was 13 when she won in 1994, and the first British singles champion at Wimbledon since Annabel Croft won the girls title in ’84.
Men’s doubles.
Jonas Bjorkman, 36, won doubles titles at the All England Club from 2002-04, but he and Kevin Ullyett lost to Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in the Swede’s last appearance at Wimbledon before he retires at the end of the season.
All the experience of Bjorkman’s 128 Wimbledon matches counted for little as Nestor and Zimonjic controlled play throughout, facing just one break point on their way to a 7-6 (12), 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3 win in the men’s doubles final.
“I thought we played a great match, focused really hard and did not want to give an inch,” Nestor said.
Nestor is the first Canadian to win a title at the All England Club.
