Marion Bartoli was the reigning champion, but she retired from professional tennis in August 2013.[4]
Like at that year'sFrench Open, the tournament was marked by two significant upsets. The top two seeds –Serena Williams andLi Na – both lost in the third round. This marked the first time in theOpen Era that neither of the top two seeds at Wimbledon reached the fourth round. Five-time Wimbledon champion Williams' defeat equalled her earliest exit from the tournament (she lost at the same stage in1998 and2005).[5] Two-time major champion Li fell to unseededBarbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, in what would be her final professional tennis match; she announced her retirement from the sport three months later.[6][7]
Sixth-seeded Kvitová defeated her compatriot and 23rd-seededLucie Šafářová, 7–6(8–6), 6–1 in the first semifinal, while 13th-seededEugenie Bouchard defeated third-seededSimona Halep, 7–6(7–5), 6–2 in the other.[8][9] Bouchard, playing in only her sixth grand slam tournament, advanced to the final without losing a set, becoming the first Canadian tennis player to reach the singles final of a grand slam.[2][10][11] The title match was the first grand slam final contested between two players born in the 1990s.[2] In the first set, Kvitová broke in the third game and broke again in the seventh to establish a 5–2 lead. With Kvitová serving for the set, Bouchard broke back, but Kvitová did the same in the following game to take the first set 6–3. The second set saw Kvitová lose only three points on serve as shebagelled Bouchard 6–0.[2] Only 10 other Wimbledon women singles champions lost "fewer games in the final than Kvitova did".[12]
The victory gave Kvitová her second Wimbledon title and secondGrand Slam title overall.[2] After the tournament, Bouchard improved to a career-high World No. 7 in the WTA rankings, surpassingCarling Bassett-Seguso's record of being the highest-ranked Canadian woman of all-time, while Kvitová moved up to World No. 4.[10]