By Erik Gudris | Wednesday, July 6, 2022
Elena Rybakina aced past Alja Tomljanovic to reach her first career major semifinal at Wimbledon.
Photo credit: Getty
With a final powerful ace, Elena Rybakina earned a big career milestone at Wimbledon—her first career major semifinal.
The 17th-seeded Rybakina completed a strong comeback win over Australia’s Alja Tomljanovic 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the final four at Wimbledon.
More: Halep Charges Into Ninth Major Semifinal at Wimbledon
“It’s amazing,” Rybakina said after the match. “It was a really tough match. And I heard all the support and I know some juniors are here supporting me. So thank you so much it’s just amazing.”
The 23-year-old Rybakina has been a rising talent on the women’s tour for some time. She’s reached a career-high No. 12 in the world along with winning two career singles titles. Rybakina is also the season’s ace leader.
For the 29-year-old Tomljanovic, a return to the Wimbledon quarterfinals had to feel extra special. Especially since she lost the year before at Wimbledon to eventual champion and countrywoman Ash Barty and wondered publicly if she would ever have another chance on the big stages of the tour.
Both women were no strangers to being in a major quarterfinal. Rybakina reached the elite eight at Roland Garros last year, while Tomljanovic was enjoying her second straight appearance in the Wimbledon quarters. The question for each was who would handle the moment better.
For the first set, at least, it was all Tomljanovic. The Australian proved the steadier of the two players as Tomljanovic secured an early service break. Tomljanovic faced pressure later in the s et while serving for it up 5-4. Falling behind 15-30, Tomljanovic responded with three strong serves including one at set point for 6-4
Tomljanovic couldn’t sustain her momentum as she quickly fell behind a service break in her opening game of the second set. Rybakina finally started to make more in-roads into the Australian’s game as she forced Tomljanovic out of her strike zone. Rybakina with a solid punch volley earned a 2-0 lead.
Tomljanovic fought back and eventually broke her opponent and soon leveled at 2-all. Rybakina elevated her game from there by showing off both her powerful groundstrokes and fine touch in key moments. After holding her serve for 3-2, Rybakina struck a quality slice forehand drop shot to break again for 4-2.
From there, Rybakina won 11 points in a row to claim the second set and force a decider.
Rybakina assumed control of the third set and the match when she broke Tomljanovic early on for 2-0 lead. Rybakina was not only solid in the backcourt but up at net as well, at one stage winning 14 out of 22 points at net.
Rybakina raced out to a 5-1 lead and served for the match. But, some noticeable nerves crept in along with a few errors. Rybakina held her first match point at 40-30. But the Australian held her ground in a long rally and eventually forced deuce. That allowed Tomljanovic to break for 2-5 and stay in the contest.
Serving for the match again later at 5-3, Rybakina made no mistakes this time. With her 15th ace on her second match point, she closed out the comeback 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory.
Rybakina, who was born in Moscow, but competes for Kazakhstan, now faces former champion Simona Halep in the semifinal.