Pliskova finally reaches Wimbledon semis • Jabeur ousted
LONDON (Reuters) – It took Karolina Pliskova almost a decade of trying before she finally reached the Wimbledon semifinals with a rapid-fire 6-2, 6-2 win over little-known Swiss Viktorija Golubic on Tuesday.
Neither player had even made it to the last-eight of the grass-court major before this week, but it was Czech Pliskova, a former world No. 1, who made her greater bigstage experience count.
“Super happy to be through. It’s my first semifinal. First time on this court this year. I had to work really hard to get to this court,” said the 29-year-old, who can now look forward to a Centre Court date with Aryna Sabalenka, who proved too powerful for Tunisian Ons Jabeur as she stormed into the semis with a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
After the first set was tied 2-2, eighth-seed Pliskova romped through the next seven games, dropping only four points on serve en route to taking the first set, as she steamed ahead 6-2, 3-0.
In their only previous meeting 66th-ranked Golubic had staged a spectacular comeback to beat the Czech after being a set and 4-2 down. But any hopes of conjuring another great escape on Tuesday so that she could become the first Swiss to reach the women’s semifinals since Martina Hingis in 1998 wereswiftly snuffed out by Pliskova.
Elsewhere, world No. 1 Ash Barty outclassed compatriot Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1, 6-3 to reach the Wimbledon semifinals on Friday and set up a meeting with 2018 champion Angelique Kerber, as the German put in a strong show to beat an errorprone Karolina Muchova 6-2, 6-3.
In the first all-Australian women’s Grand Slam quarterfinal since the 1980 Wimbledon championships, the 25-year-old Barty produced a calm and composed display on Centre Court.
Tomljanovic, who battled past British wildcard Emma Raducanu the night before to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, was nowhere to be seen in a one-sided first set. But the 28-year-old did make more of a match of it in the second, breaking the Barty serve twice before subduing.
Meanwhile, Sabalenka, the 23-old Belarusian playing in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, played aggressively throughout to keep 21st seed Jabeur on the back foot.
Jabeur, who had made history by becoming the first Arab woman to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals, boasts one of the most versatile styles in the women’s game.
But Sabalenka played the match on her own terms to nullify Jabeur’s weapons, gaining the first break of serve in the match in the 10th game to move into a one-set lead.
Sabalenka struck first in the second set and although Jabeur hung on gamely she was unable to resist the power coming from the other side of the net.
Jabeur had a break point when Sabalenka served for the match at 5-3 but could not convert it and the Belarusian finished it off with her 27th winner of the match, a backhand down the line.
Hurkacz sends Medvedev crashing out and sets Federer date
In men’s action, Poland’s Hubert
Hurkacz ousted second seed Daniil Medvedev after the pair returned on Tuesday to finish their rain-hit match and reached his maiden major quarterfinal where he will meet eighttime winner Roger Federer.
World No.2 Medvedev was leading Hurkacz by two sets to one on Monday with the fourth set on serve when play was cancelled for the day because of rain after the players had spent two hours and 25 minutes on Court Two.
But the 24-year-old Hurkacz, seeded 14th, looked a completely different player when the match restarted under the closed roof of Centre Court, triumphing 2-6, 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Next up for the world No. 18 will be the 39-year-old Federer, the 20-time major winner, who defeated him in their only previous meeting in 2019 at Indian Wells.
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