Marketa Vondrousova revealed that a snatched phone conversation with her husband had helped her turn the tide in an intense tussle with Jessica Pegula, as the Czech went on to claim a place in the Wimbledon semi-finals.
In a quarter-final with more twists and turns than a Netflix serial, two players who had never met before produced a contest that will have bolstered the reputations of both. It was deserving of the rapt attention it received from the No 1 Court crowd.
While each player had periods of dominance and both had chances to win, one key moment came off the court, when rain forced the roof to be closed with Vondrousova 3-1 down in the third set.
When play resumed the 24-year-old former French Open finalist broke the No 4 seed twice to decide the match 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Vondrousova said she had used the break to call her husband, and that the conversation they shared had restored her confidence.
“I was alone in the waiting room [during the break]”, Vondrousova said. “I chatted a bit with my husband. We talked on the phone. He just said: ‘Try to fight. You are playing a great match.’ Yeah, that was it. I think the break helped actually. It was good.”
The lack of previous encounters made this match difficult to predict, and a contrast of styles only complicated matters. Pegula is in her own words a “tough out”, a strong player on the defensive, with reliable serving and groundstrokes offsetting an arguable lack of killer shots. Vondrousova is the more mercurial talent, with what some say is the best drop-shot on the women’s tour. But both were forced to shed their skins and sometimes pinch the other’s clothes in an attempt to get ahead.
There were five breaks of serve in the first set alone as first Pegula and then Vondrousova (then both in turn again) took charge. Pegula’s persistent rhythm at first appeared too much, only for Vondrousova to mix things up, dragging the American off the baseline into uncomfortable spaces. There were some monumental points exchanged before Vondrousova came out on top.
The second set turned all that on its head. For starters, just one player was dominant, Pegula breaking Vondrousova twice in 32 minutes. Secondly it saw a reversal of tactics; Pegula braver on her forehand, but also regularly attacking the net, winning seven of 12 points contested there.
Pegula, the billionaire’s daughter, carried that powerful form over into the third set, and at 2-1 up she put relentless pressure on Vondrousova’s serve to break again. There appeared only one winner, only for a representative of the All England Club to appear on court with a walkie-talkie. On returning to play after some 20 minutes, Pegula held her first service game, but something had changed.
Vondrousova was suddenly hitting the ball as fiercely as she had at any point in the match. “I just tried to hit harder”, as she put it afterwards. “The slow balls, they don’t really work. I just said to myself, see what happens.” Once again it appeared tactics had switched, the Czech penning in her opponent. At 4-2, on her serve, Pegula tried a first lob of the match to get Vondrousova off her back. It was read and dispatched and Pegula was broken.
The finest game of the match came at 4-4, a string of highly competitive points in which both players threw everything they had into the contest. Ironically it was Pegula who won most of the rallies, having struggled earlier, but a big point would be followed by a weak one and Vondrousova cashed in to break again. She then stepped up, served out, and immediately burst into tears, at last a semi-finalist again.
