Swiatek enters her first Wimbledon Semi-Final

London: Iga Swiatek reached the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over 19th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova that went from a stroll to a bit of a struggle in the late stages Wednesday.

Swiatek is a five-time Grand Slam champion, with four of those titles on the red clay of the French Open, and the other on the hard courts of the U.S. Open. She’s also twice been a semifinalist at the hard-court Australian Open.

The grass courts of the All England Club always had given her the most trouble as a pro, even though she did claim a junior championship there in 2018. In her five appearances in Wimbledon’s women’s bracket before this year, she had made it as far as the quarterfinals just once, exiting in that round in 2023.

But the 24-year-old from Poland is enjoying a career-best run on the



slick surface, thanks in part to being more comfortable with the footing required. Before the start of Wimbledon, Swiatek was the runner-up in Bad Homburg, Germany, her first final at a tournament played on grass — and her first final at any event in more than a year.

That included a semifinal loss against Aryna Sabalenka at Roland-Garros last month, putting an end to Swiatek’s 26-match French Open winning streak.

On Thursday, Swiatek will face either No. 7 Mirra Andreeva or Belinda Bencic for a spot in the title match at the All England Club.

Swiatek led by a set and 3-0 in the second against Samsonova, who was appearing in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Soon, though, it was 4-all, then 5-all. But Swiatek held for a 6-5 lead, then broke to end it, and a smile spread across her face.