And voilà we have the finalists in the women's singles at Wimbledon. One who has been there before – Ons Jabeur and another who hasn't – Marketa Vondrousova.
Farewell Elina
Invited to proceedings by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Elina Svitolina departed the leafy lanes of south-west London as a beaten semi-finalist and with a cheque for just over 600,000 euros to share with her husband Gael Monfils and their nine-month-old baby Skai. Svitolina beat the top seed Iga Swiatek in the quarter-final but she could not reproduce that brilliance against Marketa Vondrousova who triumphed 6-3, 6-3. Svitolina was 0-4 down in the second set but won three consecutive games and served to level at 4-4. The 28-year-old Ukrainian did not hold her nerve or her serve and Vondrousova powered on to her first Wimbledon final. A thriller manqué.
Hello hubby
Marketa Vondrousova recounted that she phoned her husband while the roof was being closed during her quarter-final against Jessica Pegula on Day 9 and his kind words helped the unseeded Czech to recover and win the match. But why isn't he here, she was asked. Home, cat sitting, came the reply. Well, hubby is coming to Wimbledon to watch the final on Day 13 and the cat Frankie? A sitter has been drafted in.
At the end of a comeback
Second seed Aryna Sabalenka was a set and a break up against the sixth seed Ons Jabeur in their semi-final. But Jabeur turned it around. "In the second set I would say that she didn't change anything," reflected Sabalenka who was trying to reach her second Grand Slam tournament final of the season. "I think in these key moments, I didn't play the way I supposed to play," the 25-year-old Belarusian lamented. "She was just going for some crazy shots, which I would say normally she wouldn't put it in." Sabalenka conceded Jabeur also served better towards the end of the match. "Everything was going well for me," she added. "I just lost it a little bit in the second set and it's just gone. I felt like she was doing whatever she wanted and everything was going in."
New element
An addition to the Periodic Table? ZenOns? A day after defeating the defending Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in three sets, sixth seed Ons Jabeur dispatched the reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sablenka also in three sets to reach the Wimbledon final for a second consecutive year. Jabeur, 28, recounted that the new Ons is a zen Ons. "First, you're waiting to win your first Grand Slam, so you have to be patient," she posited. "That's one. Two, from these matches I'm learning a lot how to stay in the game and to accept the fact that playing someone like Aryna or Elena ... even if you're winning 0-40, she can make three aces. What can you do about it? You have no control." True, we're breaching Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi Star War spheres here. But force yourselves to stay with me and Ons. "My team always looks at me as if to say: 'Be patient, don't worry, it's going to happen, it's going to come'. That's basically how maybe tennis works sometimes." The review senses a film.
Good mate
Footballer Ivan Perisic was in the box encouraging Mate Pavic and Lyudmyla Kichenok during their mixed doubles final against Joran Vliegen and Yifan Xu. And why not? The Croatia international got the pair together. Lo and behold they have the mixed doubles crown. What a nice chum.
