Playing her first Grand Slam semifinal, Elena Rybakina recorded a surprisingly straightforward victory over the 2019 champion Simona Halep to move into the 2022 Wimbledon final. Playing her first Grand Slam semifinal against a player contesting her ninth, the Kazakh perfectly controled her nerves and emotions to win in straight sets, 6-3 6-3.
The 23-year-old Rybakina started confidently, taking a 3-0 lead and earning two break points for 5-1. Halep survived those break points, but in the Romanian’s next service game a double fault handed Rybakina a break/set point. Halep once again managed to hold serve despite the threat, but Rybakina closed the set in her next service game and ended Halep’s streak of 21 consecutive sets won at Wimbledon.
At the start of the second set, Halep double-faulted while being down a break point and handed Rybakina an early lead. Even though the 16th seed broke back right away, yet another double fault on break point put Rybakina back in the driver’s seat and she consolidated the lead, 4-2.
The 17th-seeded Rybakina stayed in control until the end, as she converted her first match point, on Halep’s vulnerable serve. Halep served a total of nine double faults in the match, compared to Rybakina’s zero.
Rybakina’s opponent in the final will be third seed Ons Jabeur, as the Tunisian ended the dream run of good friend Tatjana Maria earlier on Thursday and became the first female Grand Slam finalist from Africa in the Open Era.
