Czech Vondrousova ends Svitolina's run to reach Wimbledon final

 

[July 14, 2023]  By Pritha Sarkar

LONDON (Reuters) -Marketa Vondrousova showed there was no room for any gushing sentiment as she ended the remarkable run of new mum Elina Svitolina with a 6-3 6-3 victory over the Ukrainian to reach the Wimbledon final for the first time on Thursday.

In the run-up to a first All England Club women's semi-final featuring two unseeded players, Vondrousova said Svitolina was "incredible", "amazing", "a fighter" and "a super woman" for reaching the last four of a Grand Slam nine months after giving birth to daughter Skai.

But that did not stop Vondrousova from trampling all over Svitolina's dreams and she now stands on the cusp of becoming the first unseeded woman to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish when she faces Tunisian sixth seed Ons Jabeur in Saturday's final.

"I cannot believe it. I'm very happy that I made the final. Elina is such a fighter and a great person. It was a tough match. I'm very happy," said 42nd-ranked Vondrousova, who had never progressed beyond the second round here before this year.

"Grass was impossible for me. It's even crazier that this is happening."

Vondrousova is also one win away from completing her own phenomenal comeback story after two wrist surgeries following her runner-up finish at the French Open in 2019.

"I didn't play for six months last year and you never know if you can be at that level again. I'm just so grateful to be here and to be healthy and play tennis again," added the 24-year-old, who had fallen so far off the tennis radar that she has been playing at this year's championships without a clothing sponsor.

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Svitolina had become a firm crowd favourite at Wimbledon after she produced a fearless brand of tennis to send four Grand Slam champions spinning out of this year's tournament.

But on Thursday, no matter how much the Centre Court crowd tried to lift the Ukrainian wildcard with booming shouts of "We love you Elina", Svitolina appeared to be weighed down with the expectation of giving her war-ravaged country "a little bit of happiness" and froze on the biggest stage in tennis.

Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 13, 2023 Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova celebrates winning her semi final match against Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

A forehand passing shot winner gave Vondrousova the break for a 3-2 lead in the opening set and although she surrendered her own serve in the next game with some sloppy unforced errors, including a double fault, the Czech was back in front again in the very next game.

From them on, Svitolina was left shrieking, screeching and squealing in exasperation over and over again as Vondrousova frustrated the Ukrainian with her swinging left-handed serve to win seven games on the trot.

Just when it seemed that Vondrousova would whitewash her opponent in the second set as the Czech held points to go 5-0 up, Svitolina came out swinging and broke not once but twice.

However, that respite was fleeting as Vondrousova blanked out all the deafening cries of support being thrown Svitolina's way to hold tight and sealed her place in the final when the Ukrainian blocked a service return long on match point.

"Right now I'm just really upset that I couldn't go further to play in the final ... I'm not very happy the way that I dealt with the situation," a tearful Svitolina told reporters.

"I hope I can build on this. But right now I'm just really disappointed with the performance that I showed today. I'm upset that I'm ... not taking that trophy (home)."

(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Toby Davis and Ken Ferris)

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