Day 11 and the ladies semi-final day. OOO what a day of tennis it was. For the 1st time since 2004, both women’s semifinals at Wimbledon went to a deciding set and the first semifinal of the day between Paolini and Vekic was an instant classic that won’t be forgotten in a while. Both ladies leaving it all out there for 2 hours and 51min which is also the longest ever Wimbledon ladies semi-final.

Lets start the recap of day 11 with Paolini vs Vekic. Both ladies vying for a spot in their first Wimbledon final and both started off decently with 4 holds of serve to make the score 2-2. Then it was all Vekic as she broke Paolini twice and held twice to take the opening set in impressive fashion 6-2. The 2nd set was tight an tense throughout with the only break of serve coming in the 10th game in which Paolini broke the Vekic serve to take the set 6-4 and to take us into a deciding set. It was Vekic who started the better of the 2 players as she broke and held to lead 2-0 and she managed to hold the break to 3-1 before the Italian came roaring back to level it up at 3-3 again. Vekic then broke again to lead 4-3 before Paolini hit straight back with a break of her own to level it back up at 4-4. Both ladies knowing how much this win would mean for them. Paolini then held to love to put herself just a game away from the Wimbledon final. The 10th game was nearly the last game of the match as Paolini found herself at match point but Vekic cool as anything saved the match point and leveled the match at 5-5. The epic match continued. It was then Paolini’s turn to have to come through an extremely tight game. 5 deuces later and 1 break point saved, it was Paolini who led 6-5 and was once again a game away. One again Vekic was 30-40 and match point down and once again it was Vekic who pulled out a forehand winner to save the match. 2 deuces later and we were at 6-6 and a super tiebreak. At the first change of ends there was nothing to split the 2 ladies and same goes for the 2nd change of ends (6-6). Vekic was 6-7 down then 8-7 up. Paolini then played 2 brilliant points to force 2 Vekic errors and it was the Italian who got to the first match point in the tiebreak. Unfortunately for Vekic her trusty forehand which saved 2 match points before let her down and it was Paolini who took the match 10-8 in the 3rd set super-tiebreak. Paolini has now made back to back grand slam finals and has made back to back Roland Garros and Wimbledon finals which is the first time since Serena Williams did it in 2016.

The 2nd match was between the 2022 Wimbledon champ, Rybakina and the 2021 Roland Garros champion Krejcikova. After her performance in the quarter-finals, Rybakina was the big favourite to not only win this match but also the title on Saturday and what a start the Kazak made…Rybakina racing to a 4-0 lead in no time, not allowing Krejcikova to settle at all. The Czech managed to break in the 5th game and could now try and get a foothold in this match. She was however broken again and was now 5-1 down. Krejcikova managed to double her score after breaking Rybakina again and then held for the first time in the match to make it 5-3. Unfortunately she couldn’t put more pressure on as Rybakina managed to hold her serve again and take the set 6-3.
The 2nd set was tight and both players held their serve until 3-2. The 6th game went the way of Krejcikova and she now led by a break and 4-2 in the 2nd set. 3 holds of serve later and we were once again heading to a deciding set. 6-3 Krejcikova in the 2nd. However now in the decider…it was Rybakina who was once again serving first which can be an advantage in a tight and tense semi-final as the other player is always chasing. 6 games of holds and we were 3-3. Krejcikova then played a really bad service game and it was Krejcikova who was no in charge of the match with a break. Krejcikova then managed to back up the break after being 0-30 down to lead 5-3 and she was now just a game away. An easy game from Rybakina and it was 5-4 and Krejcikova was serving for the match. The pressure was on but oh did she stay so cool with a love hold to take the 3rd set and the match. She was back into a grand slam final after having a really tough year and half after coming back from injury.

Paolini vs Krejickova…ooo what a final we are in for on Saturday.

Onto the fantasy leaderboard and there has been no change at the top…’Left is Best’ and ‘Super Smash’ still jointly lead the way. ‘Hawks Hackers’ after an amazing day 10 continues to move up and on day 11 they now find themselves in 3rd place just 8 points off the leaders. ‘Hit and Run’ move up into 4th and are just 1 point behind 3rd. ‘Miny Moe’ sits in 5th just 1 point further back and 1 point behind them sits ‘Aced It!’ who sit in 6th.

With the loss of Vekic and especially Rybakina, there were many teams who were eliminated. The big name to be eliminated is ‘Racketeers’ who are sitting in 7th place and now no longer in the running for a prize. The other to be eliminated on day 11 were: ‘Last Minute’, ‘Simply Smashing’, ‘Serve with Eish’, ‘Key to SW19’, ‘Wizards’, ‘Bolt’, ‘Team Kickbutt’, ‘Sweet Strawberry’, ‘SERVED’, ‘Sweet Spot’, ‘Wing It’, ‘(B)racquet Challenge’ and ‘Chalk Dust’.

Men’s Semifinals

• Medvedev(5) vs Alcaraz(3) (14H30)
• Musetti(25) vs Djokovic(2) (16H30)

Jared

Jared matriculated in 2020 from Wynberg Boys High School in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. His passion for tennis afforded him the opportunity of travelling to Europe. He is a quizmaster and a tennis fantasy league organiser.http://Eishonline.co.za/jftl