17:29
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 6:3
But then Halep lets a high forehand fly in the direction of the sideline – just next to it, the yellow felt ball lands out of bounds. Rybakina takes the first set!
17:28
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 5:3
Even the next point goes to the Romanian, who acts powerfully in the baseline duel and can thus force Rybakina’s backhand error.
17:28
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 5:3
Halep still scored a strong winner at 15:40 – maybe important again for the head.
17:27
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 5:3
Ace number two – in this game and in the whole match. 40-0. Three set balls.
17:27
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 5:3
And does it – as in the whole sentence so far – in a sovereign and dominant manner. The rapid 15:0 lead through the ace is followed by an impressive forehand winner cross, which is again extremely well placed.
17:25
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 5:3
Service winner at the game ball, only 5:3. But: Elena Rybakina now serves to win the set.
17:25
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 5:2
However, Halep still fends off the set ball, plays a passing shot with the backhand longline in a duel on the net. In the debut, she takes advantage of it by hitting a winner with a strong and spin-rich forehand topspin.
17:23
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 5:2
But today the Romanian is not constant at all, makes two good rallies again follow simple mistakes – especially from the T-line with the cross forehand. A double fault puts the crown on the whole thing. Break and set ball!
17:22
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 5:2
Halep is now trying to play a little more offensively and organize rallies, which she manages to do twice. Longline doesn’t give Rybakina a chance and makes it 30:0.
17:20
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 5:2
With the backhand, the first-time Grand Slam semi-finalist just missed the baseline and the point to 5: 2, which she scored in the following rally. Again, she distributes her punches well, getting Halep to run and finally converting with a backhand winning shot.
17:18
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 4:2
In addition to Rybakina’s strong punches, the truth of the match so far also includes the fact that Halep has also made offers for her so far. Exploiting that as ice-cold as the 23-year-old – now with a forehand winner placed right in the corner – is also just strong. 40:15.
17:17
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 4:2
After the service winner for the lead, Rybakina lets the net shake with her longline forehand – 15 both.
17:16
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 4:2
Now Rybakina makes two quick mistakes and thus gives the debut immediately. Halep is still in the sentence.
17:15
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 4:1
But she forgives both! First Halep thunders her only fourth winner onto the lawn, then Rybakina gets stuck on the net with a backhand.
17:14
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 4:1
Another forehand winner from the leaders and a mistake by Haleps – and the Kazakh has two chances for the second break.
17:12
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 4:1
In a cross duel, Rybakina shoots her forehand against the edge of the net. 15:0 for Halep, who offered to equalize directly with a weak second serve. Rybakina takes advantage of the offer and chases the return winner inside out onto the green surface with a forehand cross.
17:10
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 4:1
Rybakina also wins her third service game without much trembling. Although she lets Halep move up to 30:30, when the score is 40:30, she benefits from the fact that Halep brings a net roller from her back behind the baseline from a good position.
17:09
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 3:1
Another reason why Rybakina managed both service games and Simona Halep not: The Kazakh brought 84 percent of her first serves into the field, Halep just under half – a big difference.
17:06
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 3:1
A stop by the 23-year-old doesn’t work, seconds later she slips a longline backhand that lands behind the baseline. Halep comes on the scoreboard.
17:05
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 3:0
After Rybakina has sent her opponent back and forth again, at some point she can no longer follow the pace – the backhand sails high into the side. Another breakball, but this time Halep fends it off with a service winner.
17:04
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 3:0
When Rybakina plays a drop shot that’s too short and finds herself at the net, she has to speculate and decides to open the backhand side. Halep sees this and hits the passing shot longline. Rybakina makes the next forehand winner. 30:30.
17:02
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 3:0
Halep now unpacks a strong punch, crosses her forehand winner right into the back corner. However, the 15:0 lead is followed by the second double fault. 15 both.
17:01
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 3:0
Almost perfect start by Elena Rybakina! So far it has been a flawless match for the native of Moscow. She won 13 of 17 rallies – and at a crazy pace. 3-0, break confirmed…
16:58
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 2:0
Rybakina has brought her powerful style of play to this center court so far. Impressively well placed and powerful, she chases shot after shot into the back corners. Halep just barely reaches one of them with the frame of her forehand and doesn’t control the ball with it. Break for Rybakina!
16:57
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 1:0
Rybakina, currently number 23 in the world, has placed her shots strongly so far, giving Halep a headache. The 30-year-old, on the other hand, makes her first double mistake. So there is the first breakball for the challenger.
16:56
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 1:0
Now Halep finds the match better. A backhand winner and two good first serves that made Rybakina return incorrectly turn the game in her favor. 40:30.
16:54
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 1:0
Uff – the first six points all go to the young Kazakh, now she owes two points to Halep’s simple mistakes.
16:53
Elena Rybakina – Simona Halep 1:0
Ryabkina celebrates a tailor-made start: She wins the first game with a clean sheet, scores points with a service winner or even with a stop win.
16:52
head to head
Halep won both completed matches in three long sets. However, the Romanian had to break off the first encounter between the two. Dinner is served!
4:50 p.m
Two-time Grand Slam tournament winner
Opposite her is Simona Halep, a very experienced player who, at the age of 30, has already won one of the four major tennis tournaments twice: at the French Open in 2018 and also in Wimbledon – on her last appearance on the “Holy Lawn” in 2019. Very different conditions.
16:47
Biggest match of career
For Rybakina, who as a Muscovite has only competed under the Kazakh flag since 2018 and, as a native of Russia, can only take part in this year’s tournament in Wimbledon thanks to this decision, it is the biggest match of her young career. Last year she was in the quarterfinals in Roland Garros, the semifinals in London is her biggest stage so far.
16:44
On the spot in the crucial moments
This statement probably applies to Elena Rybakina. Because: The Kazakh was able to win all matches in straight two sets up to the quarter-finals, but she was not as dominant as her opponent today. In the first four rounds she won only one set by more than two games, three times with 7:5 and had three tie breaks. Since the tight rounds all went to the 23-year-old Rybakina, a quality of hers in the course of the tournament so far has been shown: that she won important rallies in the decisive moments with her powerful way of playing. In the quarter-finals she gave up a set for the first time, but won the other two rounds more clearly. Which detracts a little from her achievements so far: no set player has stood in her way so far, she was mostly favoured.
16:36
Halep’s March
But based on the course of the tournament so far, a favorite, albeit a slight one, can already be identified. 2019 Wimbledon champion Simona Halep has yet to drop a set, let alone allow a set into the tie-break. The greatest feeling for one of her opponents (Belgian Kirsten Flipkens) was the second round defeat with 5:7, 4:6 – all other matches went even more clearly to Halep. Particularly impressive: How Halep dominated the number four in the world, Paula Badosa from Spain, in the round of 16 (6: 1, 6: 2). In the quarter-finals, the US youth hopeful Amanda Anisimova had to believe it, now Halep wants to march on to the final.
16:32
Who will follow Jabeur to the final?
So let’s take a look at the two following protagonists: With the numbers 16 (Halep) and 17 (Rybakina) on the seeding list, two players who are on paper similarly strong meet each other.
16:22
Maria’s final dream failed
Tatjana Maria wrote one of the very special Wimbledon stories, which unfortunately – from a German point of view – was finished in these moments. Maria’s dream trip comes to an end with a three-set defeat, which was very clear (2:6, 6:3, 1:6), against her good friend from Tunisia Ons Jabeur, who was clearly favored as number two in the world. This frees up Center Court for Rybakina and Halep on the day of the women’s semifinals.
16:15
Warm welcome
Good afternoon to the second semi-final of the women’s competition at Wimbledon. After Tatjana Maria’s match against Ons Jabeur, which is in the final stages, the Kazakh player Elena Rybakina and the Romanian Simona Halep will fight for the second ticket to the final.