2004 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles
Maria Sharapova defeated the two-time defending champion Serena Williams in the final, 6–1, 6–4 to win the ladies' singles tennis title at the 2004 Wimbledon Championships. It was her first major title. The 17-year-old's victory over the six-time major champion was described by commentators as "the most stunning upset in memory". With the win, Sharapova entered the top 10 in rankings for the first time in her career. She became the third-youngest woman to win Wimbledon (behind Lottie Dod and Martina Hingis) and the second Russian woman to win a major title (after Anastasia Myskina won that year's French Open).
| Women's singles | |
|---|---|
| 2004 Wimbledon Championships | |
| Champion | Maria Sharapova |
| Runner-up | Serena Williams |
| Score | 6–1, 6–4 |
| Draw | 128 (12 Q / 8 WC ) |
| Seeds | 32 |
Serena Williams was attempting to become the first woman to win the title three consecutive times since Steffi Graf in 1991, 1992 and 1993.
This was the last major singles tournament for former world No. 1 Martina Navratilova. Awarded a wild card, she won her first round match and became, at age 47, the oldest player in the Open Era to win a main draw match at Wimbledon and the second-lowest ranked player to do so (world No. 1,001, behind Barbara Schwartz who was unranked in 2001).