Schmiedlova stuns Krejcikova to reach Olympics semi-finals

By Sports Desk July 31, 2024

Anna Karolina Schmiedlova cruised past Barbora Krejcikova to book her place in the Olympics semi-finals on Wednesday.

Following up her impressive win over Wimbledon finalist Jasmine Paolini, the Slovakian brushed aside the All England Club champion 6-4 6-2 in just under 90 minutes at Roland-Garros.

Schmiedlova raced into a 3-0 lead and dug deep to hold off Krejcikova's fightback when she clawed it back to 4-4, getting a vital break in the final game to take the first set.

It was a much better start in the second by the Czech as she got a first-game break, but Schmiedlova put together a remarkable six-game winning run to put the match beyond any doubt.

She will face either Croatia's Donna Vekic or Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk in the final four.

Data Debrief: Schmiedlova loves an upset

Schmiedlova (world no. 67) is the lowest-ranked women's singles semi-finalist at the Olympics since tennis returned to the summer program in 1988 - Na Li (#42) in Beijing 2008 was the previous lowest.

She had to come from behind to edge out Paolini, but after a dominant performance in which she had no double faults, she will be backing herself to cause more problems in the next round. 

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