Marvellous Marketa Vondrousova dumps out Aryna Sabalenka, reaches Berlin Ladies Open final

Marketa Vondrousova has been in the doldrums since winning Wimbledon back in 2023 with injury after injury but the Czech ace has proven once again that she is a formidable grass court player easing past Aryna Sabalenka into the Berlin Ladies Open final on Saturday.

Vondrousova played for the first time in many months at the French Open after her ranking also plummeted due to being off the court. But reaching the third round at the French Open, the signs were there that she was ready to return.

This week has been a masterclass especially given she is unseeded so has had a hellish draw. She saw off Madison Keys in the opening round with the seventh seed being dispatched 7-5, 7-6 before she then saw off Diana Shnaider and Ons Jabeur.

The latter she of course defeated in the 2023 Wimbledon final. In particular against Sabalenka, the opening set was sublime as she broke early to go 2-1 up and then was clinical on her serve and as the Sabalenka resolve and also first serve fell apart, Vondrousova sliced her into trouble.

She sealed a second break at 5-2 before closing out the set 6-2 to put the blinkers in the mind of Sabalenka. Albeit unlike Elena Rybakina, Vondrousova would not fall apart in the face of the win as albeit a tighter set, she came back from 3-2 down to win it 6-4 and move through.

Next up is a great opportunity especially with her ranking as she faces Liudmila Samsonova who weathered a long marathon with Jessica Pegula earlier in the week or the Coco Gauff conqueror, Xinyu Wang. So ahead of Wimbledon, she will be a player no-one wants to face.

Vondrousova is back in top form just in time for Wimbledon and Sabalenka no doubt will be lamenting her main warm-up before the big event as not the confidence booster she perhaps wanted.