Marketa Vondrousova into Wimbledon final, ending Elina Svitolina’s dream

LONDON – Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic became the first unseeded player in the Open era (since 1968) to reach the Wimbledon women’s final, after crushing Elina Svitolina’s dreams of lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish on Thursday.

World No. 42 Vondrousova came through 6-3, 6-3 and will face 2022 runner-up Ons Jabeur for the title on Saturday.

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

However, that did not stop Vondrousova ending Svitolina’s fairy-tale journey.

She now stands 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 cannot believe it. I am very happy that I made the final. Elina is such a fighter and a great person. It was a tough match. I am very happy,” said Vondrousova.

“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 left-hander, who had fallen so far off the radar that she has been playing at this year’s championships without a clothing sponsor.

Svitolina had become a firm crowd favourite at Wimbledon, after the world No. 76 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 crowd tried to lift the wild card with cries of “We love you Elina”, she appeared weighed down with the expectation of giving her war-ravaged country “a little bit of happiness” and froze on the biggest stage in tennis.

She said representing war-torn Ukraine was a major motivating factor but added: “It’s a lot of responsibility, a lot of tension.

“I try to balance it as much as I can but, yeah, sometimes it gets maybe too much. But I don’t want to take it as an excuse that I lost today.”

The 28-year-old dropped serve three times in the opening set.

She managed to retrieve the first to level at 3-3, but the Czech broke again in the seventh and ninth games to edge ahead in the tie.

An error-plagued Svitolina quickly fell 4-0 down in the second set. However, Vondrousova suddenly suffered mid-set jitters as she handed back the breaks to allow the Ukrainian to pull to 3-4.

Svitolina then undid all her hard work to be broken again in the eighth game before pushing a forehand long to hand her opponent a place in the final.

Vondrousova, who unleashed 22 winners to Svitolina’s nine, said: “I was crazy nervous. I was nervous the whole match. I was leading 4-0 in the second set, and she fought back.”

Also clawing her way back was Jabeur, who went a set and 4-2 down before overcoming Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-3 to reach her third Slam singles final, and a second straight at the All England Club. AFP, REUTERS