Maria Sharapova defeated two-time defending championSerena Williams in the final, 6–1, 6–4 to win the ladies' singles tennis title at the2004 Wimbledon Championships.[1] It was her firstmajor title. The 17-year-old's victory over the six-time major champion was described by commentators as "the most stunning upset in memory".[2] With the win, Sharapova entered the top 10 in theWTA rankings for the first time. She was the third-youngest woman to winWimbledon (behindLottie Dod andMartina Hingis)[3] and the second Russian woman to win a major (afterAnastasia Myskina won that year'sFrench Open).[4]
Serena Williams was attempting to become the first woman to win the title three consecutive times sinceSteffi Graf in1991,1992 and1993.
This was the last major singles tournament for former world No. 1Martina Navratilova. Awarded a wild card, she won her first-round match and became, at age 47, the oldest player in theOpen Era to win a main draw match at Wimbledon and the second-lowest ranked player to do so (world No. 1,001, behindBarbara Schwartz who was unranked in 2001).[5][6]
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.
Note:Patty Schnyder, who would have been placed in the entry list on the initial entry cutoff date of 10 May 2004, did not enter and was later awarded a wildcard at this tournament.