Seed No.17 Elena Rybakina and seed No.16 Simona Halep advanced to the semifinals of Wimbledon on Wednesday, joining Tatjana Maria and third seed Ons Jabeur in the final four.
On Court No.1, Ajla Tomljanovic comfortably won the first set after breaking Elena Rybakina in a long third game. In the entire set, the Kazakh player born in Moscow won just five points on the Australian’s serve.
After an early exchange of breaks in the second set, in which Tomljanovic’s success rate was just 42% on first serve and 13% on second serve, Rybakina won seven consecutive games and established a promising 3-0 lead in the decider. Serving for victory at 5-1, Rybakina faced three consecutive break points, and eventually succumbed. In the next game, Rybakina earned a match point, but Tomljanovic saved it and held serve.
Serving for the biggest result of her career once again, Rybakina completed the job with a love hold 4-6 6-2 6-3 and became the first player from Kazakhstan – male or female – to reach semifinals at a Grand Slam.
In a match that started just half and hour later on Center Court, but finished earlier, Simona Halep eliminated seed No.20 Amanda Anisimova 6-2 6-4 to record yet another quick victory this fortnight. Contesting her fifth Wimbledon quarterfinal, the 2019 champion Halep was in command until 5-1 in the second set, when Anisimova had three consecutive break points to level the score at 5-5. The Romanian saved them all and converted her first match point moments later.
This all-Nike quarterfinal lasted just 63 minutes. Halep’s longest match at Wimbledon 2022 was in the second round against Kirsten Flipkens, one hour and 23 minutes.
The other women’s singles semifinal pair was determined on Tuesday: Tatjana Maria vs. third seed Ons Jabeur.
