Rybakina ends Svitolina in straight sets at Wimbledon

Elena Rybakina gives a wave to the crowd after winning her quarterfinal match at the Championships Wimbledon. 

Elina Svitolina didn’t have the weapons to pull off an upset at the Championships Wimbledon on Wednesday. Elena Rybakina stayed cooled and composed to win in straight sets over the Ukrainian 6-3, 6-2 on Centre Court at the All England Tennis Club. 

The Ukrainian went from having early challenges at the start of the draw to pulling off a surprising win against Xinyu Wang on Monday. It was the second straight sets win for her after dispatching 2023 Wimbledon Finalist Ons Jabeur in the second round. The former world number three was again in place to make another semifinal, but her fight against Rybakina wouldn’t come easy as they split their last four meetings. 

The Kazak won their only meeting on grass and her success of winning Wimbledon gave her some weight of potentially winning. Gaining a break in the fourth round left her enough energy to put on defense against the Ukrainian and place herself closer to adding a second dish to her inventory. 

Svitolina broke the fourth seed in the opening game before the former Wimbledon champ managed to break back. She converted in the third, holding serve against the Ukrainian. Svitolina evened the score, returning to service, but Rybakina got back out front, keeping the fifth game. The Ukrainian stayed in touch with the fourth seed, but the Kazak remained ahead on the scoreboard. 

Rybakina inched closer to the set, breaking Svitolina to love in the eighth to serve it out. She needed to set points to finish the job, but her strength on the forehand handed her the set in 32 minutes. The fourth seed dominated Svitolina on winners with 16 but had more than double the errors than the Ukrainian. It didn’t affect Rybakina’s offense, rolling into the second set comfortably. 

The 25-year-old broke Svitolina before tying in a serve hold in the second. Svitolina reacted fast to get on the board in the third. Rybakina took back control, giving herself a two-game buffer after four. Svitolina held the fifth game but the fourth seed marched forward to sit up 4-2. 

Svitolina felt the pressure on serve in the seventh but found a way to dig in and force deuce. Rybakina held the only AD point played and sealed up the break to serve for the match. She coasted to victory in the eighth, shutting out Svitolina with an ace to get back into the semifinals after 61 minutes on the court.