1978 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles 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, increasing the number from 12 in 1977. There have been at least 16 seeds in every championship since. Chris Evert "(Final)" As originally published Rosie Casals
Grass court Open titles, an all-time record of 8 Wimbledon Gentleman singles titles, and one Stuttgart Open title. Federer has the longest grass court winning streak in the Open Era as he won 65 consecutive matches on grass from 2003 to 2008 where he was beaten by Rafael Nadal in the 2008 Wimbledon final. The most successful female grass-court players currently playing are Serena Williams and her sister Venus Williams, with seven and five Wimbledon singles titles respectively. Venus has won five out of her nine Wimbledon finals appearances (losing three to her sister Serena) and achieving five titles in the ladies'