1978 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles was seeded 14th and Sue Barker was seeded 16th. The withdrawal of Casals before the draw was made allowed for a redrafting of the seeding list. 1978 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles Virginia Wade was the defending champion, but lost in the semifinals to Chris Evert. Martina Navratilova defeated her rival Evert in the final, 2–6, 6–4, 7–5 to win the Ladies' Singles tennis title at the 1978 Wimbledon Championships. This was Navratilova's first of 18 Grand Slam singles titles and a record nine Wimbledon singles titles. This was the first time Wimbledon seeded 16 players for the ladies' championship,
1996 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles 1996 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles Steffi Graf was the defending champion, and successfully defended her title, defeating Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the final, 6–3, 7–5 to win the Ladies' Singles tennis title at the 1996 Wimbledon Championships, giving Graf the seventh Wimbledon title of her career. It was the second consecutive major final between the two women, with Graf also winning the French Open crown a month earlier. With this victory, Graf captured her seventh and final Wimbledon crown, while it marked Sánchez Vicario's last appearance in the ladies' Wimbledon final. Steffi Graf (Champion) Chanda Rubin withdrew due to