London (AFP)
Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, ranked fourth in the world, reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon, the third of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, after defeating Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, ranked 21st, easily 6-3, 6-2.
Rybakina, 25, who won the title in 2022, needed only 61 minutes to achieve victory.
The Kazakh, who was eliminated in the quarter-finals last year, will play against the Czech Barbora Krejcikova (32), who qualified for this round for the first time, after defeating the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (14) in two sets 6-4, 7-6.
Despite losing the first serve, Rybakina quickly responded to her opponent and broke her first and fifth serve.
She continued in the second set in the same manner, breaking the Ukrainian’s first serve again, then the fourth, sending four smashes in this set after three in the first.
Rybakina was able to outperform Svitolina in direct confrontations, after they tied with two wins each, and she renewed the victory over her after the previous meeting this year in the fourth round of the Roland Garros tournament 6-4 and 6-3.
In the men’s tournament, Serbian Novak Djokovic, ranked second in the world, reached the semi-finals without playing due to the withdrawal of Australian Alex de Minaur due to injury a few hours before the anticipated match between them on Wednesday.
In contrast, Djokovic, the seven-time champion, is playing in his 13th semi-final at the English Championships, and his 49th in Grand Slam tournaments.
The Serb will face the winner of the match between American Taylor Fritz and Italian Lorenzo Muzzetti in the semi-finals on Sunday.
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