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,
1977 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles 1977 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles Chris Evert was the defending champion, but lost in the semifinals to Virginia Wade. Wade defeated Betty Stöve in the final, 4–6, 6–3, 6–1 in the final to win the Ladies' Singles tennis title at the 1977 Wimbledon Championships. As of 2017 Wade remains the last British woman to win a Wimbledon singles title. This was the first time Wimbledon seeded more than 8 players for the ladies' championship, increasing the number (for this year only) to twelve players. The number increased to 16 in 1978. Chris Evert "(Semifinals)" Dianne Fromholtz withdrew due to