Thursday’s two ladies’ semifinal matchups will feature quite the contrast in styles. Ash Barty and Angelique Kerber, who combined hold a career Grand Slam, will provide long rallies full of spin, angles, and guile. Aryna Sabalenka and Karolina Pliskova will provide shorter points via some of the most powerful serves and groundstrokes in the game.
Doubles and juniors action will begin on the outer courts at 11:00am local time, and at 1:00pm on No.1 Court. The ladies’ singles semifinals commence at 1:30pm on Centre Court.
Ash Barty (1) vs. Angelique Kerber (25) – 1:30pm on Centre Court
They have split four previous encounters, all on hard courts between 2017 and 2018. This is their first meeting at a Major, and thus by far the most prominent matchup in their rivalry. Over the last few years, Barty has been the much better player. Since the start of 2019, the world No.1 is 101-22, with eight titles. During that same span, Kerber is only 54-35, with one title, which just occurred two weeks ago. That title run began a 10-match winning streak on the grass for the 2018 champion, who has now reached the second week of The Championships in six of her last nine appearances. Barty was just 5-4 at The All England Club before this year. Yet despite some lapses in her level through five rounds, Ash has only allowed her opponents one set. Even though Angie is the considerably more accomplished player at this event, Ash is an impressive 29-7 over the last five years on grass. This feels like the right time and place for Barty to reach her first ladies’ singles championship match. Even though she technically was not the defending champion at Roland Garros, it felt a bit like a defense since she did not play 2020’s event. And in recent years we’ve seen both Garbine Muguruza and Simona Halep win this event after the defense of their first Major in Paris is behind them.
Aryna Sabalenka (2) vs. Karolina Pliskova (8) – Second on Centre Court
Sabalenka is 2-0 against Pliskova, though both of those 2018 matchups were extremely tight. In Eastbourne on grass, Aryna won in a third set tiebreak. In Cincinnati on a hard court, she won 7-5 in the third. Sabalenka is an excellent 43-10 going back to mid-October of last year, but in her first time beyond the fourth round of a Major, is she ready to go all the way to the final? Pliskova, the 2016 US Open runner-up, knows what’s it’s like to play for a Slam title, yet this is her first time advancing to a Major semifinal in two-and-a-half years. She’s achieved especially lackluster results over the past year. Karolina hasn’t dropped a set during this fortnight, though she hasn’t faced a top 40 player. Sabalenka will be attacking Pliskova’s serve much more aggressively than Pliskova’s five previous opponents. Aryna’s last three opponents all won 30% or less of their second serve points. It will be crucial for Karolina to keep her first serve percentage at 70% or above. Considering Sabalenka’s superior return game, and her recent results, she should be slightly favored to achieve her first Major final.
Other Notable Matches on Thursday:
Nikola Mektic and and Mate Pavic (1) vs. Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury (6) – Mektic and Pavic came back from two sets down to win their quarterfinal in five, bringing them to 46-6 on the year. Ram and Salisbury won last year’s Australian Open. When these teams met two weeks ago in Eastbourne, Mektic and Pavic prevailed in straight sets.
Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (4) vs. Simone Bolelli and Maximo Gonzalez – This is the other gentlemen’s doubles semifinal. Granollers and Zeballos were the champions in Madrid earlier this season, while Bolelli and Gonzalez won in Santiago, Parma, and Mallorca.
Thursday’s full Order of Play is here.
