Wimbledon 2023: Elina Svitolina pulled off the biggest upset at the Wimbledon this year. The wildcard entrant knocked out World No.1 Iga Swiatek with a 7-5, 6-7, 6-2 victory to reach the semifinal in the tounament. She has now reached her career’s second semifinal at the grass court major. The Ukrainian will next face Marketa Vondrousova for a spot in the final.
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“I don’t know what’s happening right now. Just really unbelievable. I am really happy that I got this chance to play here again. Playing this great match in a great atmosphere is a really unbelievable feeling for me,” said Svitolina soon after the victory.
Svitolina, who returned to the tour in April after giving birth to her daughter last October, was 4-2 down in the opening set. She struggled to get her serve going in blustery conditions on Centre Court as Swiatek moved into a 5-3 lead. But the momentum suddenly swung Svitolina’s way as from 0-30 down on her serve in the ninth game she went on to win 16 of the next 18 points to bag the first set and leave stunned Swiatek wondering what had gone wrong.
The players had to endure a 20-minute break as the roof was closed to shut out the dark clouds hovering over Centre Court. In the second set, Swiatek came back to break Svitolina for a 2-1 lead in the second set.
However Svitolina gave a good fight as the set moved into the tie-breaker. Swiatek managed to finally win the set and forced the game into the decider.
Svitolina kept believing as she got a doubles break over Swiatek. She completely dominated and was leading 5-1. There was no coming back for Swiatek from that gaping abyss and a forehand into the net handed Svitolina a remarkable win.
“I was fighting. It was not easy for me against Iga obviously, she is the World No.1. She is always firing. Today was an unbelievable match and really happy to win it,” she added.
Svitolina also had words of praise for her opponent. “Iga is not only a great champion. She is also an unbelievable person. She was one of the first ones who helped Ukrainian people and it was a huge help to Ukraine. For sure it was not easy to play against someone with whom you share a lot of good moments. But in the end really proud with my effort today.”
“Just going to enjoy with my team. At the beginning of the tournament if someone told me that you are going to be in the semifinal beating the World No.1, I would have said that they are crazy. Just going to enjoy tonight. Will get some massage and treatment and be ready for the next battle,” she concluded.
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