Ukrainian wild card Elina Svitolina continued her scintillating run through Wimbledon by ousting top-seeded Iga Swiatek in a quarterfinal match on Tuesday.
Svitolina reached the semifinals of Wimbledon for the second time in four years with a 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2 win over the Polish star. The 28-year-old Svitolina is just three months removed from returning to the WTA Tour after giving birth to her daughter last October.
“First of all, I’m going to have a beer, probably,” Svitolina said during her on-court interview. “At the beginning of the tournament if someone would tell me that I will be in the semifinal and beating world No. 1, I would just say that they’re crazy.”
Crazy or not, that was the case after Svitolina dispatched the four-time major champion in 2 hours and 50 minutes. She is returning to the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time since 2019, when she lost to eventual champion Simona Halep of Romania.
Svitolina, who is ranked 76th in the world, also became the third wild card to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon. She joined China’s Zheng Jie (2008) and Germany’s Sabine Lisicki (2011) on that list.
Svitolina’s path to the semifinals came at the expense of former Grand Slam champions Venus Williams (Round 1), Sofia Kenin (Round 3), Victoria Azarenka of Belarus (Round of 16) and Swiatek (quarterfinal).
With Swiatek dismissed, Svitolina advances to face Marketa Vondrousova in the semifinals. The 24-year-old Czech won her final five consecutive games to seize a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory over fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula.
Vondrousova, who recorded seven aces and overcame 35 unforced errors, defeated a seeded player for the fourth time in this tournament. She bounced No. 12 Veronika Kudermetova of Russia in the second round, No. 20 Donna Vekic of Croatia in the third and No. 32 Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic in the fourth.
“My best result here was second round. It’s amazing. I’m just loving grass now,” Vondrousova said.
The setback for the 29-year-old Pegula was her sixth in as many tries in Grand Slam quarterfinals.
–Field Level Media