Mother of shockers: Elina Svitolina stuns Iga Swiatek, in last-8

London, July 11

Three months after returning from maternity leave, Elina Svitolina reached the Wimbledon semifinals by beating top-ranked Iga Swiatek 7-5 6-7(5) 6-2 today.

The 28-year-old Ukrainian gave birth to her daughter in October and returned to the WTA tour in April. She received a wildcard entry to the grasscourt tournament one month after reaching the quarterfinals at the French Open. “First of all I’m going to have a beer, probably,” Svitolina said on court. “At the beginning of the tournament if someone would tell me that I will be in the semifinal and beating world No. 1, I would just say that they’re crazy.”

Swiatek, a four-time Major champion, won her third French Open title last month but was playing in the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time.

At one point, Svitolina won 20 of 22 points against Swiatek on Centre Court, including 16 of the final 18 points in the first set.

Svitolina will next face Marketa Vondrousova for a spot in Saturday’s final. It will be the Ukrainian player’s second appearance in the Wimbledon semifinals. She lost to eventual champion Simona Halep at that stage in 2019. —AP

DAY 9: HIGHLIGHTS

Standing tall

Hungry Alcaraz

Top seed Carlos Alcaraz roared into the quarterfinals with a formidable display of firepower to down big-serving Italian dark horse Matteo Berrettini 3-6 6-3 6-3 6-3.

Rune keeps calm

Fearless Dane Holger Rune’s stature in world tennis continued to grow as he stayed calm and collected in the face of adversity to ride out a 3-6 7-6(6) 7-6(4) 6-3 fourth round win over Grigor Dimitrov.