On Thursday, July 13, the semifinal matches began at Wimbledon. The participants in one of the women’s singles matches were the former Ukrainian third world racket Elina Svitolina and the representative of the Czech Republic Marketa Vondrousova. And this is the first time in the entire Open Era that unseeded tennis players have met in the Wimbledon half-final. Svitolina’s grid at the tournament turned out to be more difficult than you might imagine. First round: Venus Williams. Yes, the American is already 43 years old, but she is still a seven-time TBS singles champion.
Related Materials
“The grass killed me.” Williams fell, screamed and did not shake the referee’s hand at Wimbledon
The second round: Elise Mertens, who, however, performs more successfully in doubles. The third is the 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin. Fourth: two-time AO champion Victoria Azarenka. Finally, in the quarterfinals, the Ukrainian presented the greatest sensation of Wimbledon 2023, knocking out the first racket in the world, Iga Sviontek – 7:5, 6:7, 6:2. Who could have imagined this before the start of the tournament, for which Elina, who did not fall into the main draw at the time of the announcement of the applications, received a wild card?
Related Materials
The world’s first racket sensationally lost to a Ukrainian! Swiatek risks losing its lead
In October 2022, the 28-year-old Svitolina became a mother (the athlete’s husband and the boy’s father is the former sixth racket in the world, Gael Monfils), and on his return to the tour he already managed to win one title (he is 17 total). In the Strasbourg final she defeated Russia’s Anna Blinkova. She was clay, but it turned out that on grass Elina is able to demonstrate the elite level of tennis.
“I feel like a different person. I want to bring something new to my game. Psychologically, I feel much stronger. And I bear even difficult moments more easily. I try to put less pressure on myself. I want to use the new energy that I have, “quotes Eurosport to Svitolina after reaching the Wimbledon semifinals.
Elina Svitolina hugs Iga Swiatek after winning the 2023 Wimbledon quarterfinals
Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Nobody expected to see Vondrousova, 24, in the semifinals. Her netting was lighter than Svitolina’s, but this in no way detracted from her accomplishments. So, in the second round, the Czech beat Veronika Kudermetova in two sets, and in the quarterfinals she turned out to be stronger than the fourth racket in the world Jessica Pegula – 6: 4, 2: 6, 6: 4. Prior to this, Marketa did not show any outstanding achievements this season. She can only remember the semifinals in Linz in February, when she lost to Anastasia Potapova. In addition, Biel’s title, which Vondrousova won in 2017, when she was not yet 18 years old, remains the only one in the career of a female athlete. At the same time, in 2019, she reached the Roland Garros final, where she lost to Ashleigh Barty.
Before the semifinals with Svitolina, Vondrousova spoke enthusiastically about her opponent, calling her a “superwoman.” “It’s amazing what she did. She received a wild card and is now in the semifinals. Is incredible. It has been a very short time since she gave birth to a child. She does amazing things. Yes, she is a fighter and she plays very well. I find it amazing what she does herself. She is amazing at tennis. I think that she is a superwoman, ”says Vondrushova according to beIN Sports.
Marketa Vondrousova plays at Wimbledon 2023
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
The personal meeting score was 3-2 in favor of Svitolina. On grass, she and Vondrousova had never played each other before, only on hard ground and clay. The previous meeting was in 2021 in the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics, and there Vondrousova defeated her opponent: 6: 3, 6: 1. The Czech woman finished with a silver medal, losing to Belinda Bencic, and the Ukrainian won bronze, having won a strong will over Elena Rybakina in the third-place match.
Related Materials
“That’s how it is.” Reaction to the WTA statement on the handshakes of Ukrainians with Russians and Belarusians
At the beginning of the first set, both players took their serves calmly. The trend was broken in the fifth game, which Vondrousova unexpectedly brought to nil, taking advantage of Svitolina’s mistakes. But the Czech could not keep the advantage. In the next game, she allowed two doubles, and the Ukrainian from the second break point made a reverse break – 3: 3.
However, Elina’s successes in the first game ended there. In the seventh game, Marketa made a second break, losing only one rally a game, then brought her serve to zero, and in the ninth game she won a set point on the reception and immediately used it – 6: 3 in just 30 minutes. . Vondrousova more than doubled her opponent in winners in this game: 11 against five.
On the second set, Vondrousova didn’t slow down and quickly went ahead 3-0 with a break, nailing the second break point of the match on Svitolina’s serve. The Ukrainian in this period could not get rid of the mistakes in the draws. In the long fourth game, the Czech began to put pressure on her opponent, and from the fourth break point she achieved her goal. Then the score became 4:0 in favor of Marketa.
It seemed that now everything would end very quickly, but it was not. In the fifth game, which started at 40:0 on Vondrousova’s serve, Elina fought hard and even took someone else’s serve at the second break point, and then took her own game: 4:2 in favor of the Czech. . In the seventh game, Svitolina again took the opponent’s serve (also from the second break point), and only after that Vondrousova stopped her return, making a comeback break. With the score 5:3, Marketa served for the match. And he achieved his goal from the first match point: 6:3, 6:3 in 1 hour and 16 minutes.
Thus Vondrousova reached the Wimbledon final for the first time in her career. For her, this will be the second TBSH final, after losing Roland Garros in 2019. Next Monday, Marketa will become the 16th racket in the world, and if she wins the final, she will rise to 10th place for the first time in her career ( and will knock Daria Kasatkina out of the top 10). In the decisive match, she will play the winner of the game Ons Jaber (Tunisia, 6)-Arina Sobolenko (Belarus, 2). This match will also take place today, with the final on Saturday, July 15.
Svitolina, who suffered a third defeat in the third semifinal of the TSH (after Wimbledon 2019 and the US Open of the same year), thanks to reaching the semifinals of Wimbledon 2023 from 76th place in the WTA ranking, will rise to 27 – plus 49 lines at once.
Wimbledon 2023 will end on July 16. Follow all the events in the “Championship”.
