Donna Vekic revealed she was in "so much pain" in her record-breaking Wimbledon semi-final defeat to Jasmine Paolini, explaining her tears in the third set of a marathon match.
Vekic let slip a first-set lead to lose 2-6 6-4 7-6 (10-8) on Centre Court and miss out on a major final debut.
It appeared emotions had got the better of the first-time semi-finalist as victory slipped away despite a further early break in the decider, eventually losing after two hours and 51 minutes.
This was the longest women's singles semi in Wimbledon history, and Vekic insisted her tears were provoked by the punishment her body took in the epic encounter.
"I thought I was going to die in the third set," Vekic said in her post-match news conference. "I had so much pain in my arm, in my leg.
"It was not easy out there, but I will recover.
"I was more crying because I had so much pain, I didn't know how I could keep playing. My team tells me I can be proud of myself.
"It's tough right now. It's really tough to be positive right now. It was so close."
Paolini will now play Barbora Krejcikova in Saturday's final, her second grand slam title match after losing to perennial French Open champion Iga Swiatek at Roland Garros in June.
"Two grand slam finals in a row was crazy to believe, I think, no?" Paolini said. "I'm also surprised how at the moment, until now in this moment, I'm living this.
"I feel maybe Saturday I will be so nervous, I don't know, but I feel also relaxed. I'm the same person. I'm doing the same things. I'm surprised a little bit how I'm managing this.
"I don't want to say more, because maybe Saturday I'm going to be shaking. I'm surprising myself to live this with with really relaxing mood."
Swiatek confirms split with coach Wiktorowski and Wuhan Open withdrawal
Iga Swiatek has announced the end of her three-year partnership with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, saying the split was a mutual agreement.
Wiktorowski, who joined Swiatek's team in 2022, helped her become the first Polish player to reach world number one and she has since spent 123 weeks at the top of the rankings.
Swiatek also won 19 of her 22 career titles and an Olympic bronze medal in Paris earlier this year with Wiktorowski, along with four grand slam victories.
"After three years of the greatest achievements in my career, together with my coach Tomasz Wiktorowski we decided to part ways," Swiatek wrote on Instagram.
"I want to start with a big thank you and appreciating our work together."
Swiatek has not competed since losing to Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals of the US Open, choosing to withdraw from the China Open due to personal reasons.
The 23-year-old has also pulled out of the recent Korea Open in Seoul, citing fatigue, and next week's Wuhan Open.
Swiatek won the French Open and US Open during her opening season with Wiktorowski, before embarking on a 37-match winning run in 2022 - the longest streak by a woman this century.
The Pole won a fifth grand slam, which was her fourth with Wiktorowski, at Roland Garros in June, making it three consecutive wins at the tournament in Paris.
"Coach Wiktorowski joined my team for three seasons, when I strongly needed changes and a fresh approach to my game," Swiatek continued.
"His experience, analytical and strategic attitude and enormous knowledge about tennis helped us to achieve things I've never dreamed of only a few months after we started working together."
But Swiatek was disappointed with her hard-court performances this season, exiting the Australian Open in the third round and the US Open in the last eight.
The Pole said she has held "first talks" with prospective new coaches and will take a "couple of weeks" to start work with her next appointment.
"Our main goal was to become number one player in the world and coach Wiktorowski was the one who said it first," Swiatek concluded.
"Due to this important change on my team, I give myself a couple of weeks to start cooperation with a new coach.
"I'm in the middle of first talks with coaches from abroad (non-Polish) because I'm ready to take the next step of my career. I will let you know when I make a decision."
Medvedev rallies to straight-sets win in Shanghai opener
Daniil Medvedev held off a stern test from Thiago Seyboth Wild to edge through his Shanghai Masters opener on Friday.
The Russian won the tight contest in straight sets, prevailing 7-5 7-5 in just under two hours.
Seyboth Wild started brightly, superbly defending five break points in the opening game before breaking Medvedev to take a 3-1 lead.
A three-game winning run at the end of the first set was enough for the world number five to edge in front.
The Brazilian made another strong start in the second but was his own worst enemy as he racked up 47 unforced errors throughout the match to Medvedev's 28.
Despite going down a break again, Medvedev rallied, staying patient to mount another comeback and book his place in the next round against Matteo Arnaldi.
Data Debrief: Patience pays off
Last year, Seyboth Wild stunned Medvedev in the opening round at Roland Garros, as his high-risk, high-reward method paid off and he earned the win with 69 winners and 77 unforced errors.
Despite pushing the 28-year-old all the way, it did not garner the same reward this time around, despite getting 29 winners to Medvedev's 17.
Sabalenka stunned by Muchova in Beijing quarter-finals
Karolina Muchova secured an upset at the China Open, snapping Aryna Sabalenka's 15-match winning streak to reach the semi-finals.
The Czech prevailed in two hours and 48 minutes with a 7-6 (7-5) 2-6 6-4 win over the number one seed on Friday.
Muchova started strong, forcing Sabalenka to defend three break points in the opening game, but they were evenly matched throughout.
Sabalenka almost took the first set, but Muchova held her nerve, successfully fighting back against two set points before taking the tie-break.
The Belarusian looked back to her free-flowing best in the second though, earning two breaks as she forced the decider in comfortable fashion.
Sabalenka took an early lead in the final set, but from 4-2 down, Muchova clawed her way back, going on a four-game winning streak at the end to book a meeting with Qinwen Zheng or Mirra Andreeva in the final four.
Data Debrief: Czech mate
Given Sabalenka's recent hot streak, this does look like an upset, but it is actually pretty run-of-the-mill for Muchova.
She has now won her last three matches against Sabalenka in WTA events, defeating her at Cincinnati, Roland Garros 2023 and China Open 2024.
Excluding the BJK Cup, only Iga Swiatek (85.3%) has a higher winning percentage than Muchova on hard-court in WTA events during 2024 (84.6%, 11-2), surpassing Sabalenka (82.5%, 33-7).
The 28-year-old has reached just her second career semi-final and is the player with the fewest WTA-1000 wins during the season before the start of the China Open (one) to reach this stage of the tournament.
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