Halep beats Williams, wins her first Wimbledon title
For the second year in a row, Williams was defeated in the final of the tournament following her loss in 2018 to Germany’s Angelique Kerber.
This time she fell short against Halep, another former world No. 1, who will jump three spots to fourth in the WTA rankings on Monday.
Halep had not won a title this season prior to taking Wimbledon.
The 27-year-old Halep became the 12th player to capitalize on their first Wimbledon final appearance to take the title.
Having squandered her sixth chance to equal Australian Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam titles since claiming her last at the Australian Open in 2017, Williams will have to wait a little longer to have a another chance to achieve that milestone.
After returning from a maternity leave, Williams fell short at the French Open round of 16, the finals of Wimbledon and US Open in 2018 and did not get past the Australian Open quarterfinals nor the French Open third round in 2019.
«Never,» Halep replied on whether she has played a better match. «It was the best match and of course Serena has always inspired us so thanks for that.»
«I had nerves. My stomach was not very well before the match, but I knew that there is no time for emotions, I just came on court and I gave my best,» she said during an on-court interview.
«It was my Mum’s dream for me. She said if I wanted to do something in tennis I have to play the final of Wimbledon, so today the day came,» she added.
Williams conceded her serve twice in the early stages of the first set and needed 13 minutes to get onto the scoreboard for the first time in the fifth game.
Halep was untouchable on serve, while Williams' serve was not at its best and the US player had no comeback to the Romanian's groundstrokes.
Williams created a break point in the sixth game – the longest in the set – but Halep stormed past Williams to seal the set a couple of games later after just 26 minutes of contest.
Williams conceded her delivery twice more in the second set, in which the Romanian did not face a single break point.
«She literally played out of her mind. Whenever a player plays that amazing you just have to take your hat off,» Williams said afterwards.