“Gonna have a beer now,” Elina Svitolina overpowers a miserable Iga Swiatek to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals

Elina Svitolina brings an end to World No. 1 Iga Swiatek's Wimbledon 2023 run as the Ukrainian reaches the semi-finals.

“Gonna have a beer now,” Elina Svitolina overpowers a miserable Iga Swiatek to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals

Elina Svitolina (Credits: NBC Sports)

It brings an end to the Wimbledon campaign for World No. 1 Iga Swiatek as wildcard entrant Elina Svitolina beat the Pole. The Ukrainian makes the Wimbledon semis 6 months after giving birth to her and Gael Monfils’ daughter Skai. She returned to the Tour three months after the birth of her daughter and has made one of the best comebacks for a player returning from a maternity break.

Elina won the match 7-5, 6-7(7), 6-2 after a thrilling battle on the Centre Court that lasted for 2 hours and 50 minutes. Ranked 76th in the world, Svitolina had to rely on the wildcard to make the main-draw as her rank during the cut-off was not giving her a direct qualification to the main draw.

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“I’m gonna have a beer probably. Just going to enjoy with my team. At the beginning, if someone told me I would be in the semi-final beating the World No. 1, I would say they are crazy,” said Svitolina looking back on her run at the Championships this year.

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Svitolina made the semi-finals at the 2019 Wimbledon as well. She however lost to eventual champion Simona Halep in the semis. 2019 was a remarkable year for the Ukrainian as she also finished runner-up at the WTA Finals having won the title in 2018. She lost to Ash Barty in the finals.

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Marketa Vondrousova awaits Elina Svitolina in the semi-finals

Marketa Vondrousova
Marketa Vondrousova (Credits: Reuters)

With the win over Iga Swiatek securing her semi-final spot, Elina Svitolina will now take on Marketa Vondrousova in the last-4. The Czech star beat Jessica Pegula earlier in the day to reach her maiden Wimbledon semi-final. The former French Open runner-up also won in three sets and had the roof closing break to thank for Pegula’s momentum broke and Vondrousova capitalized on it.

Marketa won her tie 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in 1 hour and 55 minutes on Court No. 1. The match was briefly halted for roof closure as so was the match between Swiatek and Svitolina. For Svitolina, her semi-final qualification sees her break into the Top-30 once again, a jump of nearly 40 places.

Tennis fanatics will however now be hoping the former World No. 3 makes a repeat of Goran Ivanisevic‘s historic title-winning run from 2001. The Croat remains the only wildcard to win the Wimbledon singles title. Svitolina is now two wins away from achieving what Ivanisevic did more than two decades ago. But for now, let her enjoy a well-deserved beer.

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