Wimbledon Day 9 recap: Svitolina continues her breathtaking run

Day 9 at the Wimbledon Championships saw the beginning of quarterfinal action. In probably the best and most significant match of the day, former World No. 3 Elina Svitolina upset No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek in three memorable sets.

Svitolina, who became a mother less than a year ago remember, booked her place in the Wimbledon semifinals on the strength of her high-level game. Make no mistake, Svitolina is not your normal unseeded player. Still only 28, she has shown she still has plenty to offer the game now and going forward.

The final score line read 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2 in favor of the Ukrainian. It looked for a brief moment that Swiatek was going to pull another Houdini act and escape defeat. Svitolina simply did not let that happen as she struck clean winners from all over and served incredibly well.

Recapping all you need to know from Wimbledon Day 9

This wasn’t a case of Swiatek collapsing in defeat. She was simply beaten by the better player on the day. This is the seventh win over a World No. 1 for Svitolina.

The other women’s quarterfinal on Tuesday saw the No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula fall in a heartbreaking three-setter to Marketa Vondrousova, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Pegula held a 3-1 lead in the final set but could not bring home the victory. Once again she cannot get past the Quarterfinal stage at a Grand Slam. As for Vondrousova, her dream run continues as she joins Svitolina as the second unseeded player into the last four.

On the men’s side, the two favorites of the day were victorious, but not without some good action.

No. 2 Novak Djokovic overcame a tough start to take down the No. 7 seed Andrey Rublev 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3. There was a constant exchange of brutal rallies from the baseline. One would expect this in a Rublev match.

However, the Russian will rue his missed chances as he went a miserable 1/8 on break point opportunities. As usual, Djokovic locked in during the big points and got it done. The Serbian also did a great job defending his second serve as evidenced by him winning nearly 70% of those points.

No. 8 seed Jannik Sinner reached the first Grand Slam semifinal of his career after he disposed of the upstart, Roman Safiullin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. The young Italian has been striking the ball with vigor throughout the tournament and his game looks to be a real threat for anyone on grass.

His overall level and consistency from the baseline were too much for Safiullin to withstand for long.

His big serve and forehand somewhat overshadow what has become a rock-solid backhand. His ability to flatten out his groundstrokes is an ideal result for this surface. He will be a tough out going forward. And there is more quarterfinal action from the All England Club to come tomorrow.