Two absorbing ladies' semi-final tales are set to unfold on Centre Court today.

One has an alluring fairytale feel, a duel between two late bloomers in the game - the brilliant, bubbly Jasmine Paolini against the rejuvenated Donna Vekic, who was so disenchanted with tennis just over a month ago that she even flirted with quitting.

Then there’s the seemingly irresistible force that is Elena Rybakina up against the immovable object in the delightfully stubborn Barbora Krejcikova, the clever, crafty all-rounder infused with the spirit of a late Wimbledon champion who first inspired her.

First up, the match that, if you had pinpointed it even six weeks ago as a potential semi-final at Wimbledon, would have had Mac scoffing "you cannot be serious!".

Vekic was in turmoil. No energy and all motivation gone after a series of results that she felt just didn’t reward the effort she was putting in. She told her coach, Nikola Horvat, she’d had enough, she was going to quit.

She’d had this feeling before, struggling to rebound from injuries. Yet Vekic is nothing if not a fighter; she told herself “never give up” and her team rallied round, persuading her the reward would come.

And so it has. Since then, she’s reached a grass court final in Bad Homburg and now, in her 43rd Grand Slam, during which time she’s suffered 20 first-round exits, she’s the first Croatian woman since Mirjana Lucic in 1999 to make the Wimbledon last four.

Meanwhile, Paolini was busy turning herself into an almost overnight superstar after years of largely unfulfilled promise.

When the diminutive figure bounced into the Roland-Garros final, she reckoned that was incredible enough. But grass? On courts she’d never been able to master before after three first round exits at Wimbledon? No chance, she presumed. 

But her coach had to persuade her, "Jasmine, you can play well on grass." “I was saying, okay, okay, okay — but I wasn't believing in that,” beams Paolini. Yet match by match, she really has started believing her high-octane, aggressive fare really can be effective on our fair lawns.

Her victory over Emma Navarro in the quarter-final gave Italy much to smile about at their bellissimo Wimbledon, also decorated by Lorenzo Musetti’s singles break-out.

And doesn’t Paolini just have that indefinable star quality? At 28, it feels surprising she’s actually six months older than Vekic. Partly that’s because she looks like a cherubic teenager, and partly because her opponent seems to have been a fixture on the scene so much longer.

Then there’s the smile. If Carlos Alcaraz’s illuminates men’s tennis, Jasmine’s lights up the women’s game just as brightly. Even Vekic can’t resist it. “She's a great girl,” she says. “You can always see her smiling. I don't know if anyone is smiling as much as she does on court! She's really played amazing this year, I'm really, really happy for her.” 

The joy of Krejcikova reaching her first Wimbledon semi-final was delightful to behold too. Once dismissed sniffily as a ‘doubles specialist’, it was her old mentor Jana Novotna, whose tearful final meltdown in 1993 and subsequent redemption five years later made her part of Wimbledon folklore, who always told her to ignore the doubters, go out there, enjoy it and prove her quality when going it alone.

She did just that in 2021 with her Roland-Garros triumph that stunned tennis. “Every single day I think about her. I’m really sad Jana couldn’t see this. She’s guiding me, she’s guiding me all the time,” explained the Czech, who had knocked on Novotna’s door as a teenager asking if she would mentor her.

Krejcikova, winner of 10 Grand Slam doubles titles, was also determined not to be seen as a one-Slam singles wonder, swearing she’d one day win another. Now, after a season marred by injury and illness, she’s in her first Slam semi since that Paris triumph and she’s still believing, still unfurling that most interesting of all-court games, full of guile, variety and sleight of hand.

Yet Rybakina looks like an iceberg in her path. Totally imposing, she’s the one Wimbledon ladies’ champion who’s played like one this year, the player who looks determined to make sure there won’t be an eighth different ladies’ winner in eight Championships. 

Elina Svitolina went into their quarter-final full of belief, on a mission, but when her fine serves were met by four searing returns, she already felt dispirited.

Rybakina looked more efficient, more relaxed and more dominant than even in her 2022 pomp. She tops the tournament aces count (31), has the highest percentage of winners-per-point (25 per cent) and a service game-winning percentage of 86 per cent.

Ah, but Krejcikova won their only two clashes. “I don’t remember them,” she protests airily - but Rybakina certainly will. Don’t yet rule out the Venus Rosewater Dish remaining in the Czech Republic.