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.
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.
![krejcikovawimbledon](https://r.testifier.nl/Acbs8526SDKI/resizing_type:fit/watermark:Picture%3A%20IMAGO/width:1280/plain/https://s3-newsifier.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/tennisuptodate.com/images/2024-07/krejcikovawimbledon-668e8d3352539.jpg@webp)
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.
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.
![vekicwimbledon](https://r.testifier.nl/Acbs8526SDKI/resizing_type:fit/watermark:Picture%3A%20IMAGO/width:1280/plain/https://s3-newsifier.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/tennisuptodate.com/images/2024-07/vekicwimbledon-668d463f8b64d.jpg@webp)
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.