Wimbledon.. Krejcikova eliminates Rybakina and faces Paolini in the final

Czech Barbora Krejcikova, ranked 32nd in the world, joined Italian Jasmine Paolini, ranked seventh, in the final match of the Wimbledon Championship, the third of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, after defeating Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, ranked fourth, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday in the semi-finals.

This is the Czech’s second Grand Slam singles final after the first at Roland Garros in 2021, when she won her only major title so far.

Krejcikova, 28, will play in the final on Saturday against Paolini, also 28, who beat Croatian Donna Vekic 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8).

Krejcikova, who played only three matches between February and June due to illness and injury and who no one expected to reach the advanced stages of this tournament, consolidated her superiority over Rybakina and defeated her for the third time in three meetings between them so far.

Krejcikova aspires to win the English Championship title, similar to what she did in 2018 and 2022, when she won the doubles title alongside her compatriot Katerina Siniakova.

Krejcikova also holds the doubles titles at the Australian Open (2022 and 2023), Roland Garros (2018 and 2021) and Flushing Meadows (2022) all with Siniakova.

She also won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open three times (2019, 2020 and 2021).

Rybakina, the 2023 Australian Open runner-up, struck hard at the start of the match, breaking her opponent’s serve in the second and fourth games and leading 4-0. The Czech responded in the fifth, reducing the difference to 1-4, but the Kazakh did it for the third time in the sixth game and led 5-1, before Krejcikova responded in the seventh (2-5), but the final word was for Rybakina, who won the set in her favor 6-3.

The tie imposed itself at the beginning of the second set until the fourth game before the Czechs won three consecutive games, including breaking the Kazakhs’ serve in the sixth game and leading 5-2 before deciding it in their favor 6-3, imposing a decisive third set.

The decisive set witnessed the same scenario as the previous one, as the tie imposed itself until the sixth game (3-3) before Krajcikova succeeded in breaking Rybakina’s serve in the seventh game and advanced 4-3, then 5-3 before ending it in her favor 6-4.