“She has a great serve,” Elina Svitolina ranks Elena Rybakina’s serve as one of the Top 5 she’s faced in her entire career

Rybakina will face Barbora Krejcikova for a place in the Wimbledon final.

“She has a great serve,” Elina Svitolina ranks Elena Rybakina’s serve as one of the Top 5 she’s faced in her entire career

Elina Svitolina, Elena Rybakina (Images via X)

Elina Svitolina suffered a disappointing defeat against tournament favorite Elena Rybakina in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. Following the loss, the 21st seed hailed Rybakina for her serves, dubbing her as one of the top 5 best servers she’s faced in her entire career.

Svitolina arrived at the All England Club after exiting in the first round of the Bad Homburg Open. She then put together a strong run at SW19, beating Magda Linette, Julia Niemeier, Ons Jabeur and Wang Xinyu to reach the quarterfinals.

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Against Rybakina, however, the Ukrainian looked far from her best, as the Kazakhstan player stayed on the front foot from the start. The World No. 5 won 85% of her first serve against 61% of Svitolina’s serve in the first set. In the second set, she still prevailed with 54% against 40% for Svitolina. The former Wimbledon champion wrapped up her victory in style on the Centre Court.

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Speaking to the media later, Svitolina hailed Rybakina’s serve and stated that she was especially effective on grass.

For sure top 5. It’s a great serve that she has. I feel like Serena as well was an unbelievable server. I think Elena is someone that also returns quite good. Especially on grass. Grass is such a difficult surface already to return. When you have someone who hits the spots good, it’s extremely difficult.

Elina Svitolina said (via Wimbledon Press)

Before Wimbledon, Svitolina played Rybakina at the French Open fourth round, where she also lost to the Kazakh player in straight sets. Rybakina now leads 3-2 in their head-to-head meetings.

Elena Rybakina hopeful illness doesn’t interrupt her form in Wimbledon semifinal

Elena Rybakina is confident that she will play without any effects of illness in her semifinal match against Barbora Krejcikova. The World No. 5 suffered several illnesses this year and recently retired at the Berlin Ladies Open due to a stomach injury.

She is hoping to win Wimbledon for the second time, having first won it in 2022. She has been in great form at All England Club this fortnight and is hoping that her health doesn’t let her down.

Elena Rybakina
Elena Rybakina (Image via Imago)

I’m playing pretty confident. As we all know, sometimes you wake up and something can happen. Hopefully nothing is going to happen tomorrow. For sure I will try to stay focused and show the same tennis.

Elena Rybakina said (via The Guardian)

Rybakina’s semifinal opponent Krejcikova outplayed Jelena Ostapenko in the battle of former French Open champions winning 6-4, 7-6(4) in their quarterfinal match. She has a 2-0 lead against Rybakina and has good experience of playing on the big stage having won seven doubles Grand Slam titles.

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