World number 23 Yelena Rybakina reached the Wimbledon final on Thursday, a tournament she is competing in for only the second time, by defeating Simona Halep (18th) of Romania, 6-3, 6-3, to become the first. The representative of Kazakhstan will reach the final of the Grand Slam tournament. “I don’t know how to describe how I feel, it was really good, I was mentally well prepared, I did my best and had an incredible match.commented the 23-year-old, whose best Grand Slam finish was a quarter-final at Roland Garros in 2021.
Rybakina, who was born in Moscow, grew up there, lives there, will meet the winner of Tunisian Ons Jabeur (2nd) and German Tatiana Maria (103rd) in the finals. “Still going to be a great game. He is a great player, very difficult to play and it will not be easy to counter his shots and volleys.predicted Rybakina, who will be the youngest grass-court major finalist since Garbine Muguruza in 2015.
Rybakina dominated the game
On Thursday, with her big hitting, especially on serve (5 aces and 0 double faults, while Halep had no aces but 9 double faults), Rybakina dominated the match. Halep, winner of Wimbledon in 2019 and widely supported by the public while some Russian-language cheers for Rybakina rose from the stands, saw her defense eroded by her opponent’s ferocious hitting (21 wins). The Kazakh won 3-0 in the first set and finished the set without any shocks. Halep had just dropped her first set of the tournament.
In the second set, she attacked from the opening minutes, taking advantage of two consecutive double faults from Halep. But Rybakina returned the courtesy to her opponent by chaining four unforced errors in her service game to allow Halep to immediately go up 2-2. The Romanian did not have any break points other than this game.
Halep double-faulted under her opponent’s powerful and quick hitting to offer another break to the Kazakh, who this time held her serve (with two aces and a winning serve) to escape 4-2. He then hit a 195km/h ace to take a 5-3 lead, one game out of qualifying. Due to a double fault, Halep missed a ball with a score of 4-5 and sent Rybakina out of the game with two points. The Kazakh scored the last two points in a row to finish off a stunning comeback win.
Source: Le Figaro
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.