mtenis.com.pl

Winner of winners, junior to senior, like father like son, Salisbury at the double double and looking for a repeat

What a scorcher
Expect scorch marks on the Centre Court grass, on the Slazenger balls, perhaps even on the dark green backstop. Aryna Sabalenka has already produced 157 winners this Fortnight, more than anyone else in the ladies' singles and an average of more than 30 a match, and you can be sure that the Belarusian is not going to be holding back against Karolina Pliskova in a meeting between two first-time Wimbledon semi-finalists.

She has been serving at up to 122mph, which is the second fastest of The Championships, behind only Coco Gauff who peaked at 125mph. On the other side of the net, you have a Czech who has served 40 aces so far, putting her top of that leaderboard.

You suspect that much will depend on the accuracy of Sabalenka's hitting. The No.2 seed, who only played in her first Grand Slam quarter-final on Tuesday, has also made 142 unforced errors.


ARYNA SABALENKA: QUARTER-FINALS BEST POINTS
Barty bid
No one has accomplished the women's junior-senior double at the All England Club since Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo, who took the girls' singles title in 1996 and then lifted the Venus Rosewater Dish a decade later.

But Ashleigh Barty is closing in on that feat. Ten years after taking the girls' singles title on these lawns, the Australian could be about to add the senior prize, as she has a semi-final against Angelique Kerber of Germany. Kerber, who defeated Serena Williams in the 2018 final, is seeking her second Wimbledon title.


ASHLEIGH BARTY - MY PHOTOBOOTH
Following in footsteps
It's now 41 years ago since Bjorn Borg won his fifth and final Wimbledon title. His teenage son, Leo, is through to the second round of the boys' singles, where he plays Vojtech Petr of the Czech Republic.


BORG AGAIN
Doubles at the double
Britain's Joe Salisbury is two matches away from winning the gentlemen's doubles title. Salisbury and his American partner Rajeev Ram meet the all-Czech No.1 pairing of Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in the semi-finals.

Salisbury plays twice on Thursday as he and fellow Briton Harriet Dart are through to the mixed doubles quarter-final where they will play France's Jeremy Chardy and Britain's Naomi Broady.


QUARTER-FINAL AWAITS
Wheelchair tennis returns
Australia's Dylan Alcott won the quad singles title in 2019, the first year it was held at the All England Club. Alcott plays David Wagner of the United States in the semi-finals as the Wheelchair events get under way across three courts on Thursday. Japan's Shingo Kunieda is the top seed in the men's singles and goes up against 2016 champion Gordon Reid from Great Britain. Dutch two-time former champion Diede de Groot sits at the top of the ladies' singles draw and opens up against Britain's Lucy Shuker on Court 17.

What to look out for on Day 10 of The Championships

The “Barty Party” tag hangs menacingly over world No.1 Ashleigh Barty with each deep run, be it an impending trial or triumph.

Even if the mere mention begins to grate a little over time, the 25-year-old knows – since her climb to the top – there’s no point sweating over the small stuff when it is beyond her control.

Two big wins from realising her dream on the 50th anniversary of idol and mentor Evonne Goolagong Cawley’s first, the Australian accepts the road only becomes tougher from here as she prepares to face 2018 champion Angelique Kerber on ladies’ semi-finals day, a day in which the top two seeds face a pair of former world No.1s.

At this stage, there’s no avoiding the “Barty Party”, but no problem for a woman so adept at deflecting distractions. Only four years ago, it was the “comeback kid”, which followed her every move as Barty made the steady transition back from Brisbane’s home of cricket, the Gabba, to Pat Rafter Arena.

At her home event, the 2017 Brisbane International, she pushed then world No.1 Kerber to three sets as a wildcard ranked No.271. A year later she ran into the German on home soil, this time in the Sydney International final. Kerber again emerged triumphant, but it was a showdown that proved pivotal to both women at the time.

For Kerber, it was her first title since the 2016 US Open and for Barty, the ultimate touchstone. She accepted she still had a way to go to fulfil her potential.

“I remember that match well. It was my first final in Australia, in Sydney,” Barty said following her quarter-final triumph over compatriot Ajla Tomljanovic.

“I think that match, I think just one break each set in the final, I remember coming off the court and feeling like my level was close, but it wasn't good enough.

“I was close, but there was that extra step that I needed to take to compete with someone of Angie's calibre in the sense of she doesn't give you cheapies. She competes for every single point. She's won Grand Slams. She knows how to hang tough in brutal moments. That was almost a bit of a reset knowing I'm not far off, but I'm not there yet.”

Some 16 months later, Barty was there on the dais at Roland-Garros, her first Grand Slam title in hand. While the head-to-head between the pair reads 3-2, including Kerber’s Hopman Cup victory, they have never met on grass and not since 2018, before Barty’s surge.

Seeded No.25, the German is riding a 10-match winning streak on grass, following her triumph in Bad Homburg leading in, her first title since Wimbledon 2018. In her fourth semi-final at the All England Club she is tasked with cutting down a top-10 opponent for the first time in more than two years, but will draw confidence knowing that of the four remaining she is the only one who has been here before.


A first-time Wimbledon finalist is guaranteed from our second ladies’ singles semi-final when No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka and No.8 seed Karolina Pliskova do battle. Any round beyond the fourth was uncharted territory at a major for the 23-year-old Sabalenka before her run this Fortnight.

In a tussle between powerful, first-strike combatants, both women readily admit to their unpredictability, but on their day, either one has the weaponry to wipe out any adversary. Since shaking that monkey from her back to reach a maiden Grand Slam quarter-final in her 11th straight major seeded, Belarusian Sabalenka carries the 2-nil advantage into the last-four shoot-out.

For former world No.1 Pliskova, it represents another golden opportunity to bag that maiden Grand Slam, having come up short in the 2016 US Open final to Kerber. The 29-year-old has now reached the semi-finals at all four Slams, something Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Simona Halep have done among active women. Even in a near flawless routing of Viktorija Golubic in the quarter-finals, the Czech continued to set her own bar high.

“It means a lot, of course. Especially after not really having many good weeks before Wimbledon, it feels like a dream a bit… Let's say it was almost perfect. I would find some mistakes for sure,” she grinned. “But I always do find something.”