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Elena Rybakina lived up to her billing as favourite to win Wimbledon with a ruthless 6-3 6-2 dismantling of Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals on Centre Court.
The 2022 champion produced a fine display of explosive hitting coupled with a rock-solid serve to end Svitolina’s hopes of a maiden Grand Slam triumph.
Rybakina struck 28 winners during a one-sided 61-minute battle with Svitolina, with the Ukrainian 21st seed looking out-of-sorts two days on from an emotional victory over Wang Xinyu, which occurred hours after a Russian missile struck a children’s hospital in Kyiv.
Fourth seed Rybakina wrapped up victory with a seventh ace to march into the semi-finals. “Really pleased with the way I played today,” the 25-year-old said.
“It is always tough to play against Elina, she is a great player and fighter. So, no matter the score, it was not as easy as it might have looked.
“Of course I have such amazing memories from 2022 and I am just enjoying every time I step on the court.
“I also don’t like it [being favourite] to be honest but definitely I have an aggressive style of play, a huge serve and it is a big advantage.
“Of course I want to go to the end but it is match by match.”
After breaks were exchanged at the beginning of this Centre Court battle, Rybakina moved through the gears and did not face another break point.
Her forehand had been on point from the outset and when she sent down a 113mph ace to move 4-3 up, the writing was on the wall.
Svitolina suddenly went 0-40 down and conceded the break when she sent her backhand into the net before Rybakina closed out the 31-minute opener with another ace.
Another break followed at the start of the second set, while two more aces established a 3-1 lead before Svitolina had problems on her serve after she sent down two double faults in the seventh game.
It helped Rybakina break again and after match point was set up via another sumptuous forehand winner, a 113mph ace booked her place in the semi-finals.
Krejcikova tames Ostapenko to reach semi-finals
Barbora Krejcikova will meet Rybakina in the final four after reaching her first Wimbledon semi-final with a 6-4 7-6 (7-4) 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, and first since 2017, unravelled on Court One.
The 27-year-old Ostapenko had power in her serve but struggled to place it, landing less than 50 per cent of her first serves during the opening set. Krejcikova, French Open champion in 2021, broke in the third game and went on to clinch the opener comfortably.
Ostapenko rallied to break her opponent in the second set and open a 4-1 lead. However, mistakes once again dogged her game and Krejcikova put together a run of four winning games to go 5-4 up.
The match ultimately went to a tie-break and a brilliant cross-court forehand from Krejcikova found the far line to give her a mini-break from which she went on to close out the match, sealing her first win over the Latvian in their four most recent encounters.
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