It’s women’s singles semi-finals day at Wimbledon as 2022 champion Elena Rybakina headlines the four players competing to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish on Saturday afternoon.
Rybakina is the overwhelming favourite against the remaining contenders who have far less grass-court pedigree than the Kazakh. She took barely an hour to sweep aside Elina Svitolina in Wednesday’s quarter-final and now faces former French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova as she returns to Centre Court.
This is the first time Krejcikova has gone beyond the quarter-final stage of any grand slam since her 2021 Roland Garros triumph and the 28-year-old Czech had never previously gone beyond the fourth round at the All England Club.
That’s still a comparatively starry Wimbledon resume compared to Jasmine Paolini, who had never even won a match on grass until this summer as she builds on her shock run to the French Open final. Paolini is also the first Italian woman to reach the singles semi-finals in SW19 and faces Donna Vekic, who reached her maiden grand slam semi-final at the 43rd time of asking when she ended qualifier Lulu Sun’s dream run in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Follow all the latest scores and match updates from Wimbledon below:
Wimbledon day 11 – latest scores and updates
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Wimbledon 2024 has reached women’s semi-finals day
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Heavy favourite Elena Rybakina faces 2021 French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova in first semi-final
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LUKE BAKER: The high-risk style that makes reluctant Wimbledon favourite Elena Rybakina unbeatable
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French Open finalist Jasmine Paolini faces maiden grand slam semi-finalist Donna Vekic in other last-four clash
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Novak Djokovic handed walkover to semi-finals afer Alex de Minaur withdraws injured
TODAY’S ORDER OF PLAY:
09:59 , Kieran Jackson
CENTRE COURT – 13:30 START
Donna Vekic (CRO) vs Jasmine Paolini (ITA) [7]
Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) [31] vs Elena Rybakina (KAZ) [4]
Kim Clijsters (BEL) / Martina Hingis (SUI) vs Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) / Francesca Schiavone (ITA)
Meet Lorenzo Musetti, the humble Italian eyeing Wimbledon final after beating Taylor Fritz
09:52 , Kieran Jackson
Prior to his first Grand Slam quarter-final against Taylor Fritz on Wednesday at Wimbledon, Lorenzo Musetti was asked about the important topics at hand: his tattoos. The 22-year-old has three. The first is a heart with a tennis racket in the middle, the second is a ship’s anchor with “family” written on it and the third is a phrase shared with his coach: “Il meglio deve ancora venire.”
It translates: “The best is yet to come.”
Full piece below:
Meet Lorenzo Musetti, the Italian eyeing Wimbledon final after beating Taylor Fritz
WATCH: Barbora Krejcikova reflects on facing Elena Rybakina
09:00 , Luke Baker
Here’s how Barbora Krejcikova reacted to the news she would be facing Elena Rybakina in the last four today!
John McEnroe backs Novak Djokovic in spat with Wimbledon fans
08:45 , Luke Baker
John McEnroe believes Novak Djokovic had every right to take a swipe at the Centre Court crowd at Wimbledon.
Djokovic claimed some spectators disrespected him during his straight-sets win over Holger Rune on Monday night by repeatedly chanting the young Dane’s surname.
During a heated on-court interview, the seven-time champion said: “Well, to all the fans that had respect and stayed here tonight thank you very much from the bottom of my heart, I appreciate it.
“And to all those people that have chosen to disrespect the player, in this case me, have a gooooood night. Gooood night, gooood night. Very good night.”
Three-time champion McEnroe, who had his fair share of run-ins with crowds during his colourful career, revealed he would have told Djokovic “well done” for calling out the spectators.
John McEnroe backs Novak Djokovic in spat with Wimbledon fans
WATCH: Novak Djokovic blasts ‘disrespectful’ Wimbledon crowd after Holger Rune victory
08:15 , Luke Baker
Novak Djokovic accused the Wimbledon Centre Court crowd of “disrespect” following his third-round win against Holger Rune.
Alex de Minaur withdraws from Wimbledon prior to quarter-final against Novak Djokovic
08:00 , Luke Baker
Alex de Minaur says he is “devastated” after pulling out of Wimbledon prior to his quarter-final against Novak Djokovic on Wednesday due to a hip injury.
The Australian No 1 and world No 9, enjoying the best season of his career, sustained a torn cartilage to the hip in the final game against Arthur Fils in his fourth-round match on Monday.
De Minaur’s expression immediately changed as he claimed victory and despite playing down the injury in his press conference afterwards, the 25-year-old’s withdrawal was confirmed on Wednesday lunchtime, when he admitted to feeling a “loud crack” in the last three points of Monday’s match.
Seven-time Wimbledon champion Djokovic therefore receives a walkover to Friday’s semi-finals.
Alex de Minaur withdraws from Wimbledon quarter-final against Novak Djokovic
Who is playing at Wimbledon today? Full order of play and schedule
07:55 , Luke Baker
Here’s how the two main courts look at Wimbledon today
CENTRE COURT – 13:30 START
Donna Vekic (CRO) vs Jasmine Paolini (ITA) [7]
Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) [31] vs Elena Rybakina (KAZ) [4]
Kim Clijsters (BEL) / Martina Hingis (SUI) vs Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) / Francesca Schiavone (ITA)
No.1 COURT – SHOW COURT – 13:00 START
Marcel Granollers (ESP) / Horacio Zeballos (ARG) [1] vs Max Purcell (AUS) / Jordan Thompson (AUS) [15]
Harri Heliovaara (FIN) / Henry Patten (GBR) vs Neal Skupski (GBR) / Michael Venus (NZL) [9]
Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) / Giuliana Olmos (MEX) vs Marcus Willis (GBR) / Alicia Barnett (GBR)
Alfie Hewett (GBR) / Gordon Reid (GBR) [1] vs Martin De la Puente (ESP) / Joachim Gerard (BEL)
Full order of play here:
Wimbledon order of play and Thursday’s schedule
Queen Camilla enjoys surprise ‘escape’ to Wimbledon
07:45 , Luke Baker
The Queen has made a surprise visit to Wimbledon, saying it was “so nice to be able to escape for a day”.
Camilla headed to south-west London to enjoy watching play on the 10th day of the tennis championships.
She was dressed for her day out at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in a cream linen dress featuring large giraffe motifs by Anna Valentine, with a Jack Russell brooch from Van Cleef and Arpels.
Camilla told former player Laura Robson, who works in international player relations at Wimbledon, it was “so nice to be able to escape for a day”.
Queen Camilla enjoys surprise ‘escape’ to Wimbledon
Donna Vekic eclipses Lulu Sun to reach first Wimbledon semi-final
07:30 , Luke Baker
Donna Vekic ended the fairy tale Wimbledon run of qualifier Lulu Sun to reach her first grand slam semi-final.
SW19 sensation Sun won the first set and looked on course to become only the second woman to come through qualifying and reach the last four.
But Vekic, the 28-year-old from Croatia, took a tight second set and then ran away with the third for a 5-7 6-4 6-1 victory.
“It was a really tough match, she played unbelievable, I feel like she really pushed me to my limits,” said an emotional Vekic.
“I felt like I was dying out there in the first two sets but I just kept going, hoping to have a chance and it came in the end.
“I have a full box of people there and I wouldn’t be here without them.”
Jasmine Paolini makes history for Italy with dominant quarter-final victory
07:15 , Luke Baker
Jasmine Paolini kept the Italian flag flying at Wimbledon by thrashing Emma Navarro to reach the semi-finals.
Centre Court was still reeling from the defeat suffered by Italy’s poster boy and world number one Jannik Sinner, at the hands of Daniil Medvedev, when Paolini entered the fray.
The 28-year-old seventh seed duly dispatched American Navarro 6-2 6-1 to become the first Italian woman to make the last four in SW19.
“It’s amazing to get the win on this special court and I’m so happy to be in the semi-final,” she said.
“It’s so special, a dream to be here in this position. I was watching finals on this court when I was a kid, it’s strange to be here.”
Barbora Krejcikova tames Jelena Ostapenko to reach semi-finals
07:00 , Luke Baker
Latvian livewire Jelena Ostapenko blew herself out as Barbora Krejcikova reached her first Wimbledon semi-final.
Ostapenko had blitzed her way through the women’s draw, dropping only 15 games in four matches with a ferocious flurry of winners.
But when the unforced errors started to creep well above the winner count on Court One, Krejcikova was able to take advantage.
A blink-and-you-miss-it quarter-final encounter did not feature a rally of more than eight shots, but Krejcikova made hers count in a 6-4 7-6 (4) victory to set up a last-four showdown with 2022 winner Elena Rybakina.
Barbora Krejcikova tames Jelena Ostapenko to reach semi-finals
The high-risk style that makes reluctant Wimbledon favourite Elena Rybakina unbeatable
06:45 , Luke Baker
The Elena Rybakina experience rarely lasts long. Which is not to say you don’t get value for money when watching the Kazakh star – quite the opposite. She’s a whirling dervish of entertainment.
It’s just that, especially on grass, she has no interest in engaging in long rallies, preferring a “no guts, no glory”, “blink-and-you’ll-miss-her” approach to most points which means the winner and unforced error counts both ratchet up pretty quickly. When she’s more hit than miss – as she was en route to the Wimbledon title in 2022 and appears to be again this year – it’s tough to work out how to stop her.
Elina Svitolina tried in this quarter-final, she really did, but her opponent’s point-ending flashes of racquet were generally finding the lines rather than the grass beyond. Combined with a ferocious serve that pumped down six aces to reach a tournament-high total of 31 and saw her win 84 per cent of points on first serve, the result was a ruthless 6-3, 6-2 win in just 61 minutes.
Read Luke Baker’s full report from Centre Court:
The high-risk style that makes Wimbledon favourite Elena Rybakina unbeatable
Wimbledon 2024 – day 11
06:30 , Luke Baker
Welcome to The Independent’s coverage of Wimbledon 2024. We’ve reached day 11 and it’s women’s semi-finals day at SW19. Elena Rybakina is the heavy favourite but there are three women trying to stop her lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish for the second time.
Stick with us for full live coverage
