Barbora Krejcikova came from 4-1 down in the second set to reach her first Wimbledon semifinal with a 6-4, 7-6 defeat of No.13 seed Jelena Ostapenko in 1 hour and 40 minutes.
The Czech player showed remarkable resilience, bouncing back after failing to serve the match at 5-4 in the second set to secure victory in the tiebreak.
This win marks her advancement to the semi-finals of a Grand Slam for the second time in her career, the first time being her victory at Roland Garros in 2021.
Krejcikova had been on the losing end in her previous three matches against Ostapenko, all in straight sets, and had lost five out of their seven prior encounters.
Furthermore, Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, has been imperious over the last fortnight, having only dropped 15 games en route to the quarterfinal.
In contrast, Krejcikova narrowly made it through the longest match of the women’s singles competition in the first round, battling it out over 3 hours and 14 minutes against Veronika Kudermetova in a 7-6(4), 6-7(1), 7-5 win.
Despite emerging from the gruelling match, the former No.2 came prepared with a strategic game plan and an exceptional display of serving to neutralise Ostapenko’s powerful game.
She will play fourth seed Elena Rybakina in the semi-final after the Kazakh routed Elina Svitolina in the other quarter-final.
