Barbora Krejcikova reached her first Wimbledon semifinal on Wednesday with a 6-4 7-6(4) win over Latvian 13th seed Jelena Ostapenko in the battle of former French Open champions.
The Czech 31st seed kept her composure from the back of the court to force her opponent into 35 unforced errors across the match as Ostapenko’s bid for a second Grand Slam title since her first in 2017 unravelled on Court One which, on a rare occasion this tournament, had its roof open.
The 28-year-old will face Elena Rybakina who crushed Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday.
The 2022 winner from Kazakhstan broke the Ukrainian 21st seed four times in a match lasting just 61 minutes on Centre Court.
Rybakina was broken in the first game in front of the watching Queen Camilla but hit back straight away and barely put a foot wrong after that.
“It’s always tough to play against Elina, she’s a great player, great fighter. No matter the score, it is not as easy as it might look like,” she said.
“Of course I have such amazing memories from 2022 and I’m just enjoying every time I step on the court, especially when I play good. It’s just really amazing.”
Rybakina, the highest-ranking player left in the women’s draw, said she did not like to be labelled as the favourite, adding: “I have an aggressive style of game, I have a huge serve so it’s a big advantage.”
The 25-year-old Russian-born player crunched 28 winners to Svitolina’s eight, including seven aces.