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Swiatek into first Wimbledon semi-final / Photo: © AFP
Swiatek into first Wimbledon semi-final
Iga Swiatek reached the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time in her illustrious career on Wednesday, beating Russia's Liudmila Samsonova 6-2, 7-5.
The Polish eighth seed will face Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva or former Olympic champion Belinda Bencic for a place in Saturday's final.
Swiatek has won four titles on the clay at the French Open, as well as the US Open in 2022, but has struggled on the lawns of the All England Club.
Her previous best result at Wimbledon was a run to the quarter-finals in 2023.
Swiatek broke her opponent twice in the opening set to take a firm grip on the match, benefiting from a flurry of unforced errors from her opponent and winning 100 percent of her points on first serve.
Two double faults from Russian 19th seed Samsonova handed Swiatek an early break in the second set and she snuffed out a clutch of break-points in the following game to go 3-0 up.
The 24-year-old was pegged back by two breaks of serve as her level dipped and Samsonova pulled level at 4-4.
But Swiatek regrouped and broke again to seal the win.
The former world number one has gone under the radar at this year's Wimbledon as most of the other top women's seeds have tumbled, though world number one Aryna Sabalenka is still standing.
After slipping down the rankings, she is now back in the world's top four having reaching the Bad Homburg final on grass last month.
The former Wimbledon junior champion lost in the semi-finals of both the Australian Open and the French Open this year.
D.Choi--SG
