Wimbledon 2024: Krejcikova ousts Ostapenko to enter semifinals for the first time

Barbora Krejcikova reached her first Wimbledon 2024 semifinal under blue skies on Wednesday with a 6-4 7-6(4) win over Latvian 13th seed Jelena Ostapenko in the battle of former French Open champions.

The Czech 31st seed kept her composure from the back of the court to force her opponent into 35 unforced errors across the match as Ostapenko’s bid for a second Grand Slam title since her first in 2017 unravelled on Court One which, on a rare occasion this tournament, had its roof open.

The 27-year-old Ostapenko had power in her serve but struggled to place it, landing less than 50 per cent of her first serve during the opening set. Krejcikova, French Open champion in 2021, broke in the third game and went on to clinch the opener.

Ostapenko rallied to break her opponent in the second set and open a 4-1 lead. However, mistakes once again dogged her game and Krejcikova put together a run of four winning games to go 5-4 up.

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The match went to a tiebreak and a brilliant crosscourt forehand from Krejcikova found the far line to give her a mini-break from which she went on to close out the match, sealing her first win over the Latvian in their four most recent encounters.

The Czech will face 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the semifinals.