Iga Swiatek has found a new love of grass while Belinda Bencic has been inspired by her maternity break as they both powered towards a semi-final meeting at Wimbledon.
Five-time grand slam champ Swiatek outplayed Liudmila Samsonova 6-2 7-5 to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time on Wednesday, looking quite at home on the surface where she’s largely performed underwhelmingly.
And in Thursday’s semis, the Polish No.8 seed will face Swiss former Olympic champion Bencic, who will also be making her maiden appearance in the last-four after ending the adventures of teenage star Mirra Andreeva 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2).
Swiatek believes she’s finally enjoying her grass-court adventures, saying the “ball has been really listening” to her on the surface this year in her sixth crack at Wimbledon.
It certainly looked that way as she reeled off a series of spectacular winners against one of the big hitters on the curcuit, Russian 19th seed Samsonova.
On another hot day on No.1 Court at these sun-blessed championships, Swiatek won seven games in a row to dominate the early proceedings before finding her range in a much tighter second set.
One last magnificent service return winner allowed Swiatek to complete her full set of semi-final appearances at the four majors as she swept to victory in one hour 49 minutes.
The 18-year-old seventh seed Andreeva had been favourite to meet Swiatek in the semis, but the experience and nerve of the 28-year-old Bencic, who’s made a remarkable comeback to the tour since October after giving birth to baby daughter Bella last year, proved too much in two tiebreaks.
Swiatek’s hugely impressive victory sets up the possibility of a first grand slam final between the Pole and Aryna Sabalenka, who replaced her as world No.1.
Belarusian Sabalenka faces American Amanda Anisimova in the other semi-final on Thursday.
Content Source: www.perthnow.com.au