LONDON: The rare sighting of the sun at this year’s Wimbledon championships provided no incentive for Elena Rybakina to linger around longer than necessary on Centre Court as she ended Elina Svitolina’s quarterfinal challenge with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat.
Over the course of the last five days, the grass-court major had started to resemble an indoor tournament with matches on the two main show courts taking place under cover.
The retractable roof on Centre Court was finally open under a clear blue sky on Wednesday as Rybakina produced a majestic performance in front of the UK’s Queen Camilla to reach the last four for the second time in three years.
The Russian-born Kazakh, the only women’s champion left in the draw, sealed the first set with a 185kph thunderbolt and fired down another ace – her seventh of the match – to complete the one-sided victory.
The world No 4, who is also the highest seed left in the women’s draw, will face Barbora Krejcikova for a place in Saturday’s final.