Day 11 at The Championships hosts the ladies’ singles semifinals, as well as the gentlemen’s double semifinals.
2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina plays 2021 Roland Garros champion Barbora Krejcikova in Thursday’s ladies’ singles semifinals. The winner advances to Saturday’s championship match against either Roland Garros runner-up Jasmine Paolini or four-time WTA titleholder Donna Vekic. In what has been an unpredictable ladies’ singles draw, who will prevail on Day 11?
Donna Vekic after her quarterfinal win on Tuesday (twitter.com/wimbledon)
Donna Vekic vs. Jasmine Paolini (7) – 1:30pm on Centre Court
What an amazing year it has been for Paolini. At the start of 2024, the 28-year-old Italian had never advanced beyond the second round of a Major in 16 appearances. But after reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open, and winning a WTA 1000 title in Dubai, she went all the way to the championship match a month ago at Roland Garros, upsetting Rybakina in the quarterfinals. And now Jasmine has backed up that career milestone with a second consecutive Major semifinal, following a dominant performance against Emma Navarro in the last round. Paolini will debut inside the top five on Monday.
This is the farthest Vekic has ever advanced at a Major, after previously going 0-2 in quarterfinals. The 28-year-old Croatian has battled multiple injuries during her career, and was only 12-11 on the year coming into the grass court season. But Donna has now won eight of her last nine matches on grass, after reaching the final of Bad Homburg two weeks ago. Grass has easily been the best surface of her career, and she’s benefitted from adding Hall of Famer Pam Shriver to her team.
Paolini and Vekic have split two official meetings, both on hard courts within the past three years. Jasmine also defeated Donna three years ago in Cincinnati qualifying. But this surface should certainly favor Vekic, who possesses the much more formidable serve. Against Lulu Sun in the quarterfinals, Donna won a superb 87% of first serve points.
In her own quarterfinal against Navarro, Paolini has able to open up the court with her surprisingly powerful forehand, and then coming to net consistently, nabbing 16 of 17 points at net. Jasmine plays doubles regularly, so she’s fully comfortable coming forward. And she’s a great returner, as she broke Navarro in five out of seven service games.
This should be a fascinating contest between two players with contrasting styles. Will Paolini’s recent experience in a Major semifinal be a key factor? Will Vekic’s grass court prowess carry her to victory? I give the slight edge to Donna, as I will be surprised if Jasmine can attack Donna’s serve as well as Jasmine has attacked the serve of others, though the Italian has continued to surprise me throughout this season.
Barbora Krejcikova during her quarterfinal on Wednesday (twitter.com/wimbledon)
Barbora Krejcikova (31) vs. Elena Rybakina (4) – Second on Centre Court
Rybakina is now 19-2 lifetime at The Championships, after a clinical straight-set victory against Elina Svitolina on Wednesday. That was also her 40th win of the season, which is second-best in WTA singles, despite Elena pulling out of several events due to injury and illness. She’s dropped just one set through five matches during this fortnight, and across the last three rounds, has struck 89 winners and only 48 unforced errors.
This semifinal run from Krejcikova has come out of nowhere, as she was just 7-9 before arriving at SW19, in a season interrupted by a back injury. But she’s been most impressive in back-to-back wins over big-hitting seeded players (Collins, Ostapenko), using her variety to move them around the court, and put them in uncomfortable positions. If Barbora can do that against Elena on Thursday, she has a real shot at advancing to her second Major final in singles. And while Krejcikova was just 6-3 in singles at this event prior to this fortnight, she’s twice won this event in ladies’ doubles.
Krejickova is also 2-0 against Rybakina, having won a pair of three-setters on hard courts within the last few seasons. On this surface, and at this stage of a tournament, with Elena holding a 5-1 record in semifinals this year, Rybakina remains the favorite. But Elena also knows she’s now a big favorite to win this tournament for a second time, which places plenty of pressure on her shoulders. I do not expect this semifinal to be straightforward for the 2022 champion.
Other Notable Matches on Thursday:
Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (1) vs. Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson (15) – This is a gentlemen’s doubles semifinal. The top seeds are still looking for the first Major of their partnership, despite advancing to the Wimbledon final in two of the last three years. Purcell won this event in 2022 alongside Matthew Ebden, while this is a first Major semifinal for Thompson.
Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten vs. Neal Skupski and Michael Venus (9) – This is the second gentlemen’s doubles semifinal. Skupski won this tournament a year ago with Wesley Koolhof, and also won mixed doubles here in both 2021 and 2022. Venus won a Major in men’s doubles at the 2017 French Open. Heliovaara won mixed doubles at last year’s US Open, and has won two ATP titles this season alongside Patten of Great Britain.
Thursday’s full Order of Play is here.
