Iga Swiatek has crashed out of Wimbledon with a shock quarter-final defeat to Ukrainian wildcard Elina Svitolina.
The world No.1 won the French Open last month and was looking to land a Channel Slam after making improvements on grass but lost out to world No.76 Svitolina, who has been on a resurgence less than a year after giving birth.
Swiatek, 22, is a four-time Grand Slam winner but despite dominating women’s tennis in recent years, the Polish star has historically struggled on grass courts and has never reached a WTA Tour final on the surface.
Swiatek made changes to her game, though, and despite being handed a scare by Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she had looked more comfortable this year, surpassing her previous best Wimbledon run to the fourth round in 2021.
But ultimately Swiatek was only able to go one round further as Svitolina recorded a stunning 7-5 6-7 6-2 victory in their quarter-final clash – and she will next face unseeded Czech world No.42 Marketa Vondrousova in the last four.
Swiatek got off to a perfect start against Svitolina with a break in the opening game of the match and a hold to love saw her take the lead – with groans in the crowd among fans keen to avoid a one-sided clash in favour of a closer battle.
Spectators appeared to get their wish in game four as Svitolina conjured up a break of her own to level up the first set at 2-2 but Swiatek edged back in front with a second break and hold, seeing her open up a 4-2 lead.
Svitolina kept battling, though, and in game 10 she raced into a 40-love lead on the Swiatek serve, registering her second break of the match to make it 5-5.
The Ukrainian held and then in game 12 she stunned the world No.1 with her third break of the afternoon to take the first set 7-5.
The decision was made to close the Centre Court roof ahead of the second set due to rain and Swiatek took the lead in game three with a break but just like in the first set, Svitolina battled back with a break of her own, to make it 3-3.
Svitolina was forced to save break point in game nine as the second set went to a tie-break but Swiatek took it 7-6 (7-5) to force a decider. Svitolina got the crucial break in game three of the third set, though, to edge towards a remarkable win.
The 28-year-old extended her lead in game five with another break, enough for her to win the third and final set 6-2, as she booked her place in the Wimbledon semi-finals for the second time in her career, having reached the last four in 2019.
The race for the women’s singles trophy is wide open with current champion Elena Rybakina still standing in the draw with second-seed Aryna Sabalenka and last year’s finalist Ons Jabeur – but with Svitolina adding her Swiatek scalp to wins over Venus Williams and two seeded players – she will feel she can go all the way.
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