Jasmine Paolini moved into her first Wimbledon semi-final after breezing past Emma Navarro in straight sets on Tuesday.
The seventh seed had never won a WTA main-draw match on grass courts until late last month but progressed into the last four at SW19 after triumphing 6-2 6-1 on Centre Court.
French Open finalist Paolini will fancy her chances of reaching the final as well, with world number 37 Donna Vekic – who overcame Lulu Sun in the quarter-finals – standing in her way of the showpiece.
Having profited from Madison Keys' injury-enforced retirement in the last round, Paolini was slow to get going after Navarro, who stunned Coco Gauff earlier in the competition, broke to seize an early 2-1 lead.
Yet the Italian appeared fuelled by that concession, winning on her opponent's service for three straight games to turn that deficit into a routine first-set triumph in just 27 minutes.
The 23-year-old Navarro struggled to regain her composure in the following set, missing two break-point chances at 1-1 before Paolini followed up by breaking to snatch a 3-1 advantage.
World number seven Paolini hammered home that advantage soon after, cutting through Navarro with ease en route to victory in less than an hour.
Data Debrief: Italian history for Paolini
Paolini is the first Italian women's player to reach the semi-finals at this tournament, having not previously ever won at Wimbledon before this edition.
The 28-year-old is also the oldest player to reach their first semi-finals in two different grand slams during the same season, since Betty Stove in 1977.
LATEST STORIES
Wimbledon champion Alcaraz not convinced tennis has entered new era
- 2024-07-15 12:59:03
- Hits 168
Wimbledon: Back-to-back champion Alcaraz 'repeating the dream'
- 2024-07-14 11:35:36
- Hits 131
Wimbledon: Djokovic living childhood dream despite final defeat
- 2024-07-14 11:39:53
- Hits 126
Wimbledon: Still more to come from 'incredible' Alcaraz, says Djokovic
- 2024-07-14 12:31:01
- Hits 124
Alcaraz backed to get 'very close' to Djokovic slam record
- 2024-07-19 02:13:47
- Hits 112