Elina Svitolina became tearful as she reflected on the end of her hopes of winning the Wimbledon title for Ukraine.
Svitolina’s efforts amid war in her homeland and only nine months after giving birth to daughter Skai have been one of the stories of the tournament.
But her hopes of reaching a first grand slam final were ended in emphatic fashion by 24-year-old Czech Marketa Vondrousova, whose 6-3 6-3 victory makes her the first unseeded women’s finalist at Wimbledon since 1963.
Far more at home on clay than grass, this is Vondrousova’s first big grand slam run since she lost to Ashleigh Barty in the French Open final as a teenager in 2019.
Svitolina was desperately disappointed with her performance and struggled to keep her composure as she spoke about the support she had received from back home.
“I got a lot of messages from different people,” she said. “It’s unbelievable that they’ve been there with me all the way. Hopefully they continue.
“For sure I hope I can build on this. But right now I’m just really disappointed with the performance that I showed today. That’s what I have right now in my mind.
“Probably I will need a couple of days to really reflect on everything that happened because I was trying to be really focused, even after the win against Iga (Swiatek).”
Vadym Prystaiko, the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, was in the Royal Box, with Svitolina’s run having provided cheer amid dark times for her compatriots back home.
Sergiy Stakhovsky celebrated the best moment of his career on Centre Court 10 years ago when he beat Roger Federer but that is a distant memory now as he prepares to return to the front line.
He told the Telegraph: “There’s not a person in Ukraine who isn’t following her story. She brings joy where there is despair, brings hope where there is misery. She is fulfilling a lot of things the Ukrainians need these days.”
Although it did not maintain its ban on Russian and Belarusian players, Wimbledon organisers have tried to show they are still on Ukraine’s side, welcoming 1,000 refugees to the Championships and helping Ukrainian players with training and accommodation costs.
They are also donating one pound for every fan who comes through the gates to the British Red Cross’ humanitarian work in Ukraine, with the total at £412,132 after 10 days.
Svitolina has spoken at length about the new mindset she has on her return to tennis, as a new mother and as a result of the war, with on-court defeats no longer the disaster they might once have felt.
But here she found herself perhaps the favourite against a similarly unexpected semi-finalist – this was the first time in the open era that a last-four clash here had featured two unseeded players.
The freedom with which Svitolina had progressed through her first five rounds was missing, while Vondrousova is also a player who offers a frustrating lack of rhythm.
The Czech mixes big hits from the baseline with drop shots, lobs and short angles and she wrapped up the first set in less than half an hour, breaking Svitolina’s serve three times in a row.
The fans tried to will Svitolina, who lost both her previous slam semi-finals here and at the US Open in 2019, back into the match in the second set but Vondrousova was firmly in her groove and she moved to the brink of victory at 4-0.
The Czech can be a nervous closer and there were definite signs of tension as Svitolina broke twice in succession to claw her way back to 4-3 only to play another poor game, and she looked emotional as she walked off court to a standing ovation.
The Ukrainian admitted she has been carrying a lot on her shoulders, saying: “For sure it’s a big motivation but it’s a lot of responsibility, a lot of tension. I try to balance it as much as I can.
“But sometimes it gets maybe too much. But I don’t want to take it as an excuse that I lost today. I try to take it as a motivation for me. I just hope that Ukrainian people continue supporting me. It was really amazing. And I just hope that I’m going to get another chance.”
Madrid Open: Nadal roars to victory against De Minaur
Rafael Nadal delighted his home fans at the Madrid Open as he roared to an impressive victory over Alex de Minaur on Saturday.
The Spaniard battled to a 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 victory to earn his first win over a top-20 player in the world rankings since the ATP Finals back in 2022.
De Minaur had beaten Nadal last week in Barcelona, but the five-time Madrid champion was not to be denied this time in front of a crowd which included King Felipe VI along with football stars Zinedine Zidane and Vinicius Jr.
Emerging triumphant from an epic 77-minute opening set proved decisive, with Nadal more comfortable in the second as De Minaur missed an opportunity to become the first player to beat him in consecutive weeks since Novak Djokovic achieved the feat way back in 2011.
Nadal will take on Pedro Cachin in the third round after the Argentine dumped out Fances Tiafoe in three sets.
"I'm super happy to be able to be competitive against a great player like Alex and play over two hours," Nadal said, per the ATP Tour website.
"It means a lot to me and the atmosphere here is just a joke, so I can't thank enough everybody here.
"It still needs time [until I am back to my best]. I think for moments it has been a good level of tennis. I was able to do positive things, but still on and off.
"But I really believe that tennis hasn't been an issue for the last two years. More the physical issues.
"If I am able to play weeks in a row and if I am able to play tennis, then I'm going to see how far I can go and how competitive I could be. But that's not the case yet, just step by step and let's see how I recover."
Elsewhere at the tournament, Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner, playing as the top seed at a Masters 1000 event for the first time, cruised to victory over fellow Italian Lorenzo Sonego to start his campaign in style.
It took Sinner just 69 minutes to win 6-0 6-3 and improve to 26-2 in a remarkable 2024 season so far.
“I know Lorenzo quite well and we have a good friendship off the court, we play Davis Cup together, we practise a lot together,” Sinner said.
“The mental side was a little bit different than it used to be, so I'm just happy how I handled the situation. He didn't play at his best. I think we saw this. I wish him all the best for the rest of the season.”
Progress was harder to come by for Daniil Medvedev as he lost the opening set to Matteo Arnaldi, though the third seed eventually battled through 2-6 6-4 6-4 to book a third-round clash with American Sebastian Korda.
There was a surprise result, though, with Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro ending the fine recent form of Stefanos Tsitsipas with a 6-4 6-4 victory.
Tsitsipas was 10-1 on clay this year going into the match, but the sixth seed crashed to a shock defeat just a week after Monteiro had lost in the first round of a Challenger Tour event in Portugal, marking a rapid reversal of his fortunes.
“Every week you have a new opportunity," said Monteiro. “These past few weeks I wasn’t feeling really good on the court. I was trying to do well at Challengers but it didn’t work.
“I just kept up the hard work, day by day. Even when I was not feeling good and not winning matches, I kept believing in myself, and this week it has paid off.
"For sure one of the biggest wins of my career. I knew it was a really tough match and I tried to just believe in myself all the time."
Sunday’s matches will see Nadal’s compatriot Carlos Alcaraz continue his campaign with a third-round clash against Thiago Seyboth Wild.
Swiatek soars into Madrid Open last 16 after dropping just two games against Cirstea
Iga Swiatek stormed through to the Madrid Open last 16 following a dominant straight-sets victory over Sorana Cirstea.
The world number one dropped just two games as she inflicted a comprehensive 6-1 6-1 rout on her Romanian opponent in the Spanish capital.
Swiatek, who was runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka in last year's event, will play Sara Sorribes Tormo in the round of 16 after the Spaniard defeated two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka.
The Pole is now 26-4 for the season, in which she has already triumphed at the Qatar Open and Indian Wells Open, as she eyes the ninth WTA 1000 singles title of her career.
Data debrief
Swiatek is through to her sixth round of 16 from seven main-draw appearances in WTA 1000 events on clay (85.7 per cent) - the highest percentage rate among players with at least five such appearances since the format's introduction in 2009.
The three-time French Open champion also boasts the best WTA match win rate of any player since 2000 on clay (87 per cent). Overall, only Chris Evert (94.5 per cent), Margaret Court (89.5 per cent) and Steffi Graf (89.2 per cent) boast a higher percentage in the Open Era.
Alcaraz begins Madrid Open campaign with emphatic win
Carlos Alcaraz continued his fine record at the Madrid Open with an emphatic 6-2 6-1 victory over Alexander Shevchenko on Friday.
The two-time defending champion made it 12 straight wins at his home tournament to ensure he will face Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild in the last 32.
Alcaraz was playing his first match on the ATP Tour since March 28 after being unable to compete in the Monte-Carlo Masters and Barcelona Open due to an arm injury.
But he was still able to make a fine start to his clay-court season, breaking serve in the first game and racing to victory in only one hour and eight minutes.
Data Debrief
Sometimes the scoreline can be harsh on a beaten player, but on this occasion Alcaraz was clearly dominant, breaking the Kazakh seven times in the match and forcing 11 break-point opportunities while conceding only three for his opponent.
That allowed the Spaniard to claim a dominant victory despite being broken once in each set. He will now turn his attention to a clash with Seyboth Wild, who battled past Lorenzo Musetti with a 6-4 6-4 win.
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