Wimbledon—London, England

Krejcikova to Face Paolini for Wimbledon Title

Former Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina missed a golden opportunity to reach the finals of The Championships on Thursday, losing to former French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

In a match that lasted two hours and seven minutes, Krejcikova used her powerful serve to hit four aces, win 67 percent of her first serve points and break serve on four occasions.

The Czech native will next face Italian Jasmine Paolini for the title on Saturday.

Paolini poured in an impressive performance to defeat Croatian Donna Vekic 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(8).

Needing two hours and 51 minutes to advance, Paolini made great use of her foot speed and stamina to outlast her powerful opponent.

Paolini recently made the finals of the French Open, losing to world No. 1 Iga Swiatek.

Krejcikova and Paolini have never played on the pro Tour. Krejcikova is a former French Open winner.

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Men’s Semifinal Preview

Friday’s semifinal men’s lineup will feature seven-time winner Novak Djokovic taking on No. 25 seed Lorenzo Musetti and No. 3 seed Carlos Alcaraz facing No. 5 seed Daniil Medvedev.

Djokovic, who enters The Championships off of a walkover victory over Alex de Minuar, had knee survey after withdrawing from the French Open last month.

Musetti, who owns one victory against Djokovic in their career meetings, has pushed to Serb to five sets in two encounters at Roland Garros.

The Italian defeated Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals and reached the finals at Queen’s Club and the semifinals at Stuttgart in his grass-court preparation.

The day’s second semifinal will be highlighted by seventh meeting between Alcaraz and Medvedev. The pair has played twice at Wimbledon, with each player winning on one occasion.

The men’s final will take place on Sunday in London, England.

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