Wimbledon 2021

Ashleigh, who had become the first world No. 1 in five years to reach the final at SW19, became the first Australian woman player in 41 years after Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1980) to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish. This is her second Grand Slam title after the 2019 French Open.

The 17-year-old right-hander from New Jersey beat Sascha 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-2 in two minutes short of two hours in their semi-final encounter. In the final, Samir will take on fellow American Victor Lilov, who outplayed Juncheng Shang of China 6-3, 6-1 in the other semi-final. It was superb performance from Samir, who is ranked 19 in the ITF junior rankings as of July 5, 2021, as he sent down seven aces as compared to three by Sascha.

"I have no words, really. I need a couple of hours to understand what happened. I played a great match. My family is there, my team. I never dreamt about this because it was too much," the world No. 9 Berrettini, 25, had said after his semi-final win on Friday evening. Coach Vincenzo Santopadre, who has worked with Berrettini for 11 years, said they wanted to turn him into an all-round player, not just a clay-court specialist.

Argentina's Lionel Messi, who has earned honours at Barcelona to become one of the two best footballers of this era alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, is yet to win a major trophy in national colours. On Sunday morning, he will lead Albiceleste in the Copa America final against arch-rivals Brazil in Rio de Janeiro's iconic Maracana Stadium.

"I think what hurt so much this time was just that I felt like the game is there and it's possible to go and play for the trophy," Shapovalov said on Friday evening. "It's a feeling I've never had before, so that's why it just hurt so much. I felt like I was outplaying Novak in parts of the match. If you're outplaying Novak, you can beat anyone.

Unleashing an array of powerful ground-strokes that kept Hurkacz under check throughout the match, Berrettini raced to a 6-3, 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-4 victory in two hours and 37 minutes, becoming the first player from Italy to reach the Wimbledon final. This was the seventh seed's 11th victory on grass as he had come into the tournament with victory in a buildup tournament.

Ashleigh, who will lead the Australian tennis contingent at the Tokyo Olympics this month, took an hour and 26 minutes to prevail over the German opponent. She came back from a break down at 5-3 in the second set to seal the win. The Aussie committed more double faults - 4 against 3 - but it was her power-packed game and high percentage of wins on first service that carried her through.

Berrettini is the first man from his country in the Open Era to make it to the last-four stage of the Wimbledon Championships. "Everything is crazy right now. Thanks to Felix, I think we made a great match and I hope you guys enjoyed it," Berrettini said in his on-court interview after trumping Canadian Auger-Aliassime, his closest mate, on Wednesday night.

The match was played over two days. The Sania-Bopanna pair had lost the first set 3-6 on Tuesday before the match was suspended. The unseeded pair, however, hit the tennis court on Wednesday with a sense of purpose and won the second set with the margin they had lost the first set. The final set was closely fought and comprised 20 games before the Indians wilted.

The former world No. 1 could convert only one of the four break-points while opponent Hurkacz converted five out of 15 break-points. Federer could also win only 67 per cent of points on first serve as against 79 per cent by the Polish player. Federer had last won a Grand Slam title at the 2018 Australian Open and it is looking unlikely that he will win any more as a lot of youngsters are beginning to challenge him.