Rybakina right on money

LONDON, July 10

The rare sighting of the sun at this year’s Wimbledon championships provided no incentive for Elena Rybakina to linger around longer than necessary on Centre Court as she ended Elina Svitolina’s quarterfinal challenge with a 6-3 6-2 defeat.

Over the course of the last five days, the grasscourt major had started to resemble an indoor tournament with matches on the two main showcourts taking place under cover.

With the retractable roof on Centre Court finally open under a clear blue sky today, spectators flocking into the 15,000-seater arena were hoping that the Rybakina-Svitolina duel would be a long and thrilling one.

After all, this was the only singles match they were going to get to watch on day 10 of the championships since Novak Djokovic’s quarterfinal with Alex de Minaur had already been cancelled after the Australian pulled out with a hip injury, handing the Serbian a walkover.

All the fans got in return for their £200 ($260) Centre Court tickets was one hour and one minute of singles action.

Giving value for money to the punters was not exactly high on the priority list for Rybakina. All the fourth seed wanted was to take the win and move another step closer to lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish for the second time in three years — the quicker the better.

“Really pleased with the way I played today. Thank you so much guys for coming and supporting us,” Rybakina told the crowd, who might have felt they had been rather short-changed despite a mixed doubles tie and a legends’ match being moved to fill the gap.

Krejcikova in semis

Barbora Krejcikova reached her first Wimbledon semifinal with a 6-4 7-6(4) win over Latvian 13th seed Jelena Ostapenko in the battle of former French Open champions. The Czech 31st seed kept her composure from the back of the court to force her opponent into 35 unforced errors as Ostapenko’s bid for a second Grand Slam title since her first in 2017 unravelled on Court One. — Reuters