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Six times the 29-year-old had lost at the
quarter-final stage of one of the four majors, but she used all
her experience to overcome her doubles partner in a gruelling
scrap despite some early nerves.
"Mentally, it was too tough," said Pavlyuchenkova. "I was super
nervous this morning but that's tennis. We both wanted to win
it's normal, it's sports. It was important to return her serves,
it was the key for me."
Rybakina, 21, looked in control of her first Grand Slam
quarter-final when she opened up a 4-1 lead in the first set but
Pavlyuchenkova hit back to force a tiebreak.
The Russian took the momentum into the second set to level the
match and kept her nose ahead in a tense finale.
Rybakina, who beat Serena Williams in the fourth round, held
serve three times to stay alive in the third set.
But the 21st seed failed at the fourth time of asking, ending
the contest in tame fashion with a double-fault.
Pavlyuchenkova will face fellow semi-final debutant Tamara
Zidansek for a place in Saturday's final after the Slovenian
also came though a long battle, against Spain's Paula Badosa.
RUSSIAN FIGHTBACK
Despite 12 WTA titles throughout her career Pavlyuchenkova has
never made a big impact at a Grand Slam.
When Rybakina began as she finished against Williams on Sunday,
calmly picking her spots to build a big lead, it seemed
Pavlyuchenkova was heading for another quarter-final exit,
having lost three at the Australian Open and one each at the
other three Slams.
The Russian did well to claw her way back but the tiebreak got
away from her as she went 5-0 down and a backhand return into
the net gave up the set to her 21-year-old opponent.
Pavlyuchenkova, seeded 31, got the first break in the second set
in the sixth game despite slipping over while hoisting a lob
that Rybakina smashed into the net.
The third set came down to a battle of wills with Pavlyuchenkova
edging it to reach a maiden Grand Slam semi-final in one fewer
attempt than the record 53 needed by Czech Barbora Strycova when
she did it at Wimbledon in 2019.
Pavlyuchenkova said her fighting instincts made the difference.
"When I'm on the court, I'm doing my job and I fight, and I want
to kill my opponent every time I play. So that's the
difference," she said.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Ken
Ferris)
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