Day 12 was the ladies semi-final day. Before I talk about the ladies semi-finals, I want to congratulate Desirae Krawczyk and Joe Salisbury for beating Elena Vesnina and Aslan Karatsev in the mixed doubles final. Now moving onto the ladies semi-finals. All 4 semi-finalists were playing their first grand slam semi-final and vying to reach their first grand slam final. Day 12 began with the 31st seed, Pavlyuchenkova, playing unseeded Zidansek. The two ladies putting on a great match but it was the 29 year old and 31st seed, Pavlyuchenkova, who won is straight sets. The second ladies semi-final was between the unseeded Krejcikova and the 17th seeded Greek, Sakkari, Krejcikova managed to come from behind in the first set and took it 7-5. Sakkari then hit back strong and won 4 games on the trot. Krejcikova didn’t give up on the set and won the next 3 games on the trot. The score was now 4-3 to the Greek. The last three games went on serve and the Greek took us into a decider, Sakkari was hitting her shots and not holding back and she was the one with the break in the final set. Krejcikova was serving 3-5 down and match point down. The Czech seemingly not feeling the pressure as she swiped a nerveless backhand drive volley out of the air. She forced Sakkari to serve it out. 5-4 and serving for the match, you could feel the tension in the stadium. Sadly for the Greek fans, she couldn’t serve it out and the match continued. 5-5 the 6-6 and then 6-7 down , it was Sakkari’s turn to save some match points. The match continued. 7-8 Sakkari once again serving to stay in the encounter. Match point Krejcikova…Sakkari hits a ball and it’s called long but the umpire overturns it and they have to replay the point (Hawkeye showing the viewers that is was indeed long). Sakkari saved the match point and brought up a game point of her own. She couldn’t take it and then found herself another match point down. Finally after a grueling match, Krejcikova is in the final. Who do you think will win their first ever grand slam singles title and could Krejcikova win the doubles and the singles titles? We can only wait and see.

In the fantasy tournament, the only pick to lose was Sakkari (picked 3 times). ‘Oh my hat’ still leads but their lead is now just 1 point over ‘ Lorna Forbes’. ‘Ronan the Man’ is still in third. ‘Ian’s Alternates’ are making a late lunge for a prize position as they are now tied with ‘Romain Soula’ in 4th. Don’t count out anyone though because 10 bonus points for the grand slam winner and a guaranteed 5 points for the runner-up means that a lot of points are still up for grabs. Here is the leaderboard with 3 days to go!

Results on Day 12:

• D.Krawczyk and J.Salisbury beat E.Vesnina and A.Karatsev – 2-6; 6-4; 10-5
• Pavlychenkova(31) beat Zedansek – 7-5; 6-3
• Krejcikova beat Sakkari(17) – 7-5; 4-6; 9-7

Semi-Finals on Day 13:

• Zverev(6) (8 picks) vs Tsitsipas(5) (24 picks) (14:50)
• Djokovic(1) (22 picks) vs Nadal(3) (35 picks) (17:30)

Make some noise for your men!!!!!

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 fantasy organiser.