It is the last place Elina Svitolina expected it to happen – a first Grand Slam semi-final on the lawns of the All England Club.
But after a pair of quarter-final showings on the clay at Roland-Garros and two on the hard courts at Melbourne Park, the No.8 seed finally broke her duck at Wimbledon on Tuesday.
A 7-5, 6-4 victory over unseeded Czech Karolina Muchova on No.1 Court had the Ukrainian leaping for the skies.
Elated and relieved, everything from here on will be a bonus.
“Yeah it feels amazing,” Svitolina told the BBC as she left the court. “First semi-final for me and didn’t expect it would happen here. It’s exciting and I’m looking forward to my semi-final already.
“[Muchova’s] a very tricky player, grass suits her. Had to really fight for every point. [The] key was hitting one extra ball.”
The 22-year-old Muchova has proven one of the revelations of The Championships this year. In just her fourth Grand Slam main draw appearance she beat the seeded Anett Kontaveit before prevailing in a three-hour, 17-minute epic from 3-5 down in the final set to deny No.3 seed Karolina Pliskova, 13-11.
And on Tuesday, in her maiden Slam quarter-final she made the more impressive start, whipping heavy forehands, chip-and-charging and serve-volleying her way to the early break.
Muchova showed exceptional hands as she picked off a drop volley on her way to holding for 4-1 and her incredible touch again came to the fore when she plucked a deft half-volley drop shot winner on her way to a 5-2 hold.
But serving for the set, the Czech stumbled in her first poor game of the match. The Ukrainian was lifting, and she broke for 4-5.
As the rallies wore on, it was Svitolina who began to find her range and Muchova could only throw her head back in frustration as a backhand error presented a break point at 5-all.
Four times in this service game she fended off a break point with a winner – the first a line-skimming forehand on the run, the subsequent three with exquisite volleys. But Svitolina continued to press and edged ahead for the first time in the set when she broke on a forehand error from the Czech.
While only two years the unseeded Muchova’s senior, Svitolina’s superior experience was telling as she closed out the set on a forehand volley winner.
The toll of a gargantuan struggle a day before was beginning to show on the weary, increasingly error-prone Czech.
As Svitolina began to pull clear her confidence only swelled. She punished a short second serve for the chance to serve for a maiden Grand Slam semi-final berth.
Muchova knew this is where her opponent’s nerves would come back into play. She ripped a backhand winner to rouse the No.1 Court crowd and Svitolina misfired on a tight backhand volley to surrender serve.
The Czech wasn’t done. Sneaky moves into the net paid dividends as she picked off back-to-back volleys to inch back within a game of levelling and she would ask the question of Svitolina again.
But there was no mistake second time around. She ended it on her first match point to set a semi-final clash with a familiar foe, Simona Halep, a player she has beaten four times in seven encounters.
“Definitely, it’s gonna be another day. [It’s a] good opportunity to play another match here. I really love the atmosphere and it’s … exciting to play on Centre Court, hopefully. We’ll see … It’s going to be my first time.”
