In a Centre Court clash between two of last year’s top performers at Wimbledon, No.21 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine charged past No.10 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 6-1, 7-6(4) at the grass-court Grand Slam on Saturday.
Wimbledon 2024: Scores | Draws | Order of play
Svitolina, who reached her second Wimbledon semifinal in 2023, needed 80 minutes to end Jabeur’s hopes of making a third straight Wimbledon final. Jabeur finished runner-up to Elena Rybakina in 2022 and Marketa Vondrousova in 2023.
Just over a year into her comeback from maternity leave, former World No.3 Svitolina keeps posting quality results at the majors. Svitolina has made the second week at five of the six Grand Slams she has contested since her return, including a quarterfinal at 2023 Roland Garros ahead of her 2023 Wimbledon semifinal run.
However, this was Svitolina’s first Top 10 win since she shocked World No.1 Iga Swiatek in last year’s Wimbledon quarterfinals. In the 12 months between that upset and her victory over Jabeur on Saturday, Svitolina had gone 0-6 against the Top 10.
Svitolina ➡️ 4R
Elina Svitolina produces a brilliant performance to beat two-time finalist Ons Jabeur 6-1, 7-6(4)#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/uu1kUkJVwN
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 6, 2024
Next up, Wang Xinyu: Svitolina will try to keep her campaign going when she has her first career meeting with World No.42 Wang Xinyu of China in the Round of 16.
Wang battled past British hope Harriet Dart in their third-round match on Court No.2, eking out a 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over the World No.100. Wang was down a break in both the second and third sets, but made comebacks each time en route to a 2-hour and 18-minute victory.
This marks 22-year-old Wang’s second trip to a Grand Slam Round of 16, having also gone that far at last year’s US Open. She also won a Grand Slam doubles title last year, partnering Hsieh Su-wei to victory at Roland Garros.
Wang was down a set and a break as late as 3-1 in the second set, and Dart was two points away from victory at 5-4 and deuce. But Dart misfired on a putaway which would have given her match point, and Wang pulled away from there, winning the next three games to level the match.
Xinyu Wang wins through to the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time 👏
She defeats Harriet Dart 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/clkN8aPQFZ
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 6, 2024
Dart also held a 3-0 lead in the decider, but Wang amped up her groundstroke power and consistency to reel off six games in a row and dismiss the penultimate British woman remaining in singles. Emma Raducanu is now the last British woman standing in the singles draw.
More from Wimbledon:
- ‘A special place in my heart’: Serena and Venus, Swiatek salute Andy Murray
- Kasatkina’s ‘absolutely brilliant’ lob earns hot-shot kudos at Wimbledon
- Is grass-court tennis the trickest surface on the tour?
- Familiar faces: Barty, Sharapova return to Wimbledon with their sons
More to come…