Aryana Sabalenka, Ons Zebure
– Photo: Social Media
Expansion
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus has reached the semi-finals of the fourth consecutive Grand Slam. On Wednesday, she easily defeated 25th seed Madison Keys of America 6-4, 6-2 and broke her dream of reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon for the first time. On the other hand, defending champion Alina Rybakina of Kazakhstan was defeated by defending runner-up Ons Zebeur of Tunisia 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1 in a three-set struggle to make it to the semi-finals. Second seed Sabalenka has been in tremendous form this year. She won her first Grand Slam title in the form of Australian Open at the beginning of the year. She reached the semi-finals of the French Open, while at the end of 2022 she also reached the semi-finals of the US Open.
Strong ground strokes become strength
Sabalenka of strong physique is being considered as a big contender to win the title here. His first serve is second to none, while his ground strokes are extremely powerful. Madison Keys, the 2017 US Open runner-up, had earlier reached the quarter-finals here in 2015, eyeing a maiden semi-final berth here but Sabalenka denied her. She dominated the keys from the start. He won the first set easily.
Sabalenka made a tremendous comeback and won
Keys fought back in the second set. She was leading 4-2 at one stage. It seemed that the match would come down to a one-set tie, but from here on, Sabalenka, showing tremendous fighting ability, first equalized 4-4 and then she won the set 6-6 without giving Keys any chance. Won the match by 4 runs.
Key service broken four times
Sabalenka missed last year’s Wimbledon due to a ban on Russian and Belarusian players, but reached the semi-finals here in 2021. Even during that time he impressed everyone with his strong serve and ground strokes. However, Sabalenka hit five aces in the match to two. Sabalenka earned nine break points throughout the match, including four breaks of serve. Sabalenka will face the winner of the quarterfinal match between defending champion Alina Rybakina and Ons Zebure in the semi-finals.
Zebure avenged last year’s final loss
Last year’s Wimbledon final was played between Rybakina and Zebur, where Rybakina won the title, but this time both of them were face to face in the quarterfinals. Here Zebur avenged last year’s final loss to Rybakina. Rybakina won the first set 6-7. She was in control in the second set as well. Zebur was leading 5-4 in the second set with Rybakina serving. Ons won the set by breaking Elena’s serve to level the match. Ons broke Rybakina’s serve early in the third set. Rybakina could not do anything in this set. Ons won the set 6–1 and earned the right to face Sabalenka in the semi-finals.