Schedule/Preview Women's Semi-Finals - 2024 Wimbledon: Rybakina and Paolini favorites to reach the final

Day 11 of Wimbledon will feature the women's semifinal matches this Thursday, July 11, as contenders for the title are determined at the All England Club. World No. 4 Elena Rybakina remains the top favorite in contention and will face the surprising Barbora Krejcikova (No. 31), former French Open champion who has found her best form of the year these past weeks at SW19.

On the other side, Roland Garros runner-up just weeks ago Jasmine Paolini (No. 7) has shown she can also adapt well to grass-courts and will face Donna Vekic (No. 37), who has had a resurgence at Wimbledon and is the only debutante in a Grand Slam semifinal.

Rybakina eyes Wimbledon glory against surging Krejcikova

Elena Rybakina has dominated practically all her matches at Wimbledon this year and is the top favorite for the title. The Ice Queen holds a 19-2 record at Wimbledon and already knows what it takes to win the title after her excellent campaign in 2022. Rybakina's game is perfectly suited to grass-courts, as she has shown with straightforward victories throughout the tournament.

Read also

Exceptional Elena Rybakina too good for Elina Svitolina, eases into Wimbledon semi-finals

The Kazakh has spent just over 6 hours on court after 5 matches, with comfortable wins over tough opponents along the way, such as former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki (6-0, 6-1), 17th seed Anna Kalinskaya (6-3, 3-0), and 21st seed Elina Svitolina (6-3, 6-2). Her victory against Svitolina was her 40th win of the year, reaching her 7th semifinal of the season.

Facing her is a surprise in Krejcikova, as few would have expected her name at this stage of the tournament. The 31st seed has battled constant injuries this season and many first-round defeats, accumulating just 7 wins and 9 losses before Wimbledon.

The 2021 French Open champion also had her best result at SW19 reaching the fourth round three years ago, making her current campaign even more surprising in the third Grand Slam of the year. However, the Czech is a player of stature and extensive experience. Her recent victories were in straight sets against 11th seed Danielle Collins and 13th seed Jelena Ostapenko.

Krejcikova leads their head-to-head 2-0, both matches on hardcourts that went to three sets. In both previous encounters, Rybakina entered as the favorite but couldn't overcome the Czech.

Barbora Krejcikova at 2024 Wimbledon.

Paolini aims to extend Wimbledon magic against Donna Vekic

The Italian has had an incredible rise in the rankings in the 2024 season. She is the player with the most wins in Grand Slam tournaments this year (14-2) and among her best results of the season are the title at the WTA 1000 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and the final at the French Open (defeat to Swiatek).

Paolini had fallen in the first round in her three previous Wimbledon appearances, but this season everything changed with easy wins in the early rounds against Sara Sorribes Tormo, Greet Minnen, and Bianca Andreescu. In the Round of 16, Paolini was on the brink against Madison Keys (down 2-5 with two breaks in the third set), but she recovered the breaks and Keys retired with the score tied at 5-5. To dispel doubts about her level, she cruised past Emma Navarro to reach the semifinals and comes in as the favorite to advance.

Read also

"I told them to shut up five times during the match": Donna Vekic explains fury towards her coaching team at Wimbledon

She will face the only debutante in the semifinals still in contention: Croatian world No. 37 Donna Vekic. The 28-year-old has dealt with injuries and inconsistent results throughout her career and never fulfilled the expectations she generated at the beginning of her career with her first professional final in 2012 at 16 years old and first professional title in 2014 at 17 years old.

These weeks at Wimbledon seem to have put Vekic back on track as she reaches her first Grand Slam semifinal, surpassing her previous quarterfinal appearance at the 2023 Australian Open. Vekic took advantage of early exits by favorites in her draw like Qinwen Zheng, Marketa Vondrousova, and Maria Sakkari to navigate through the draw.

Donna Vekic at 2024 Wimbledon.

Her only encounter with a top-50 player was against 28th seed Dayana Yastremska in the third round, then she consecutively defeated Paula Badosa (No. 93) and Lulu Sun (No. 123), leaving her as the sole unseeded player still in contention.

The Croatian, with her best historical ranking at No. 19, faces her toughest challenge yet against Paolini, although rankings matter little to Vekic, who has 14 wins against top-10 players in her career, the last being in February this year against world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka. Paolini leads their head-to-head 2-1, though all their matches have been on hardcourts.