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,
Nancy Richey Nancy Richey Nancy Richey (born August 23, 1942) is a former tennis player from the United States, who won two Grand Slam singles titles (1967 Australian Championships and 1968 French Open) and four Grand Slam women's doubles titles (1965 U.S. Championships and 1966 Australian, Wimbledon, and U.S. Championships). She was ranked World No. 2 in singles at year-end in 1969. Richey won 69 singles titles during her career and helped the U.S. win the Federation Cup in 1969. She won the singles title at the U.S. Women's Clay Court Championships a record six consecutive years, from 1963 through 1968. Richey