For the first time, Italy will have two semi-finals at the same time in the Wimbledon men’s and women’s singles tables. Jasmine Paolini, who qualified the day before, will be joined by Lorenzo Musetti, Jannik Sinner’s talented companion who will make up for the disappointment of many colleagues when the world number one is eliminated in the quarter finals. Musetti beat Taylor Fritz in five sets and will first take place in a Grand Slam tournament semi-final.
“Me and my team were joking because I’ve never played in a big stadium at Wimbledon; It was an honor. I think I had a great match, Taylor is in great shape”, said the 22-year-old Italian, after beating Fritz (12th in the world ranking), 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) , 6 – 2, 3-6 and 6-1.
Musetti showed that he is worth more than his 25th place in the world ranking, by putting up a brilliant performance and saving his best tennis for the fifth and decisive place. set: great efficiency in service, the first (77% points obtained) and the second (86%), the total use of the seven decision points on the network and the two breakpoints available to him, ended the set together 11 winners and only by unforced error.
“At first, Taylor was in charge, especially when I was serving and I couldn’t react well. In the second setI had a great reaction when I did the break and that changed my mind, my attitude. That’s probably what made the difference”, explained Musetti, who will face Novak Djokovic (2nd) on Friday, equaling Roger Federer’s record of 13 Wimbledon semi-final appearances.
Serbia did not even enter the field, due to the withdrawal of Australian Alex de Minaur (9th), forced to withdraw due to a hip injury, suffered at the end of the previous match.
In the women’s competition, Elena Rybakina (4th) is the only one of the four semi-finalists who knows what it’s like to be at this high level of British competition. The 2022 champion has not had an easy season – she had to withdraw from four tournaments (Dubai, Indian Wells, Rome and Berlin) due to illness, two of them in the Masters 1000 category where she defended the title – but she found her best feelings again on the grass in London and she recorded the 19th victory in 21 matches held at the All England Club, against Elina Svitolina (21st), 6-3, 6-2, completing the victory with the seventh Ace out of a total of 28 winnersagainst only eight from Ukraine.
This Thursday, Rybakina discusses a place in the final with Czech Barbora Krejcikova (32nd), who is in the Grand Slam singles semi-final for the second time and the first since winning at Roland-Garros in 2021.
In the quarter-final won by two Roland-Garros champions, Krejcikova beat Jelena Ostapenko (winner in 2017), 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), thanks to a good percentage of points won on the first serve (73) . %) and five aces. In contrast, Ostapenko (14th) accumulated five double faults and 35 unforced errors.