Ukraine’s Svitolina ousts top seed Swiatek
WIMBLEDON, England — The last time Elina Svitolina was Grand Slam semifinalist — twice, actually, in 2019 — she was pursuing the usual trappings of success in professional sports: trophies, money, fame, etc.
Now Svitolina plays for more important reasons. For her daughter, Skaï, who was born in October. For her country, Ukraine, where a war that began with Russia’s invasion in February 2022 continues to this day.
And Svitolina firmly believes that those quite different factors actually do affect the way she swings a racket and the way she handles important moments on a tennis court. Enough so that she is one of the last four women remaining at Wimbledon after adding to her series of surprising victories over major champions with a 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2 victory against No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek on Tuesday.
“War made me stronger and also made me mentally stronger. Mentally, I don’t take difficult situations as, like, a disaster, you know? There are worse things in life. I’m just more calmer,” said Svitolina, 28, who once was ranked as high No. 3 and now is No. 76 after taking time off to start a family with her husband, tennis player Gael Monfils.
She only returned to the tour three months ago.
“Also, because I just started to play again, I have different pressures,” Svitolina said after kneeling down, then covering her face with her hands, when Swiatek missed one last forehand at Centre Court. “Of course, I want to win. I have this motivation, like huge motivation, to come back to the top. But I think having a child — and war — made me a different person. I look at the things a bit differently.”
Swiatek, who was coming off claiming her fourth Grand Slam title at the French Open last month, felt a change in the way Svitolina smacked balls over the Centre Court net. That included a stretch where Svitolina won 20 of 22 points spanning the end of the first set and start of the second.
“She played with more freedom and more guts. Sometimes, she really just let go of her hand,” Swiatek said, pantomiming a forehand, “and she played really, really fast.”
Svitolina received a wild-card entry from the All England Club to get into the field and now will face another unseeded player, 42nd-ranked Marketa Vondrousova, for a berth in Saturday’s final.
Vondrousova, the 2019 French Open runner-up, beat fourthseeded Jessica Pegula 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 by grabbing the last five games after being a point from trailing 5-1 in the last set at No. 1 Court. Pegula dropped to 0-6 in major quarterfinals.
Defending champion Elena Rybakina and No. 6 Ons Jabeur will meet Wednesday in a rematch of last year’s final, which Rybakina won in three sets for her first and — so far — only Grand Slam title. No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka will face No. 25 Madison Keys in the day’s other women’s quarterfinal.
On the men’s side, Novak Djokovic tied Roger Federer’s record of 46 men’s Grand Slam semifinals by getting to that round with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Andrey Rublev.
More importantly, Djokovic moved closer to a fifth consecutive championship at the All England Club and eighth overall — which would pull him even with Federer on both counts.
Djokovic, a 36-year-old from Serbia, is also pursuing a 24th career major trophy. He already set the men’s mark in that category by collecting No. 23 at the French Open last month, pulling ahead of Rafael Nadal. Federer is next on the list with 20.
The only real blip for Djokovic at Centre Court on Tuesday came when the No. 7-seeded Rublev broke him with a forehand winner to lead 5-4 in the first set, then served it out.
From there, Djokovic saved all seven break points he faced and pulled away, dropping Rublev to 0-8 in Grand Slam quarterfinals.
Next up for Djokovic is a matchup against No. 8 seed Jannik Sinner, who made it to the semifinals at a major tournament for the first time by beating Roman Safiullin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 earlier Tuesday.
“It means a lot me,” said Sinner, a 21-year-old from Italy. “We put a lot of work in — many, many hours off court, a lot of sacrifice — for this moment.”
The other two men’s quarterfinals are Wednesday: No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz vs. No. 6 Holger Rune, and No. 3 Daniil Medvedev vs. unseeded Chris Eubanks.