Elina Svitolina hails ‘great champion’ Iga Swiatek Ukranian shocked World No 1 semi-finals Wimbledon

Elina Svitolina flew the flag for Ukraine in spectacular fashion as she shocked world number one Iga Swiatek to make the last four at Wimbledon.

The world number 76, facing an opponent who wears a supportive blue and yellow ribbon, came through 7-5 6-7 6-2 in two hours and 51 minutes, and will now face Marketa Vondrousova.

The Centre Court stood as she served out the match after some pulsating baseline exchanges that saw her the more consistent. Coming in on a wildcard after giving birth nine months ago, it is a remarkable outcome.

‘I don’t know what is happening right now, its unbelievable, I’m really happy I got this chance. It was an unbelievable feeling, I was fighting, she is world number one and always fighting,’ said Svitolina.

‘Iga is not only a great champion she is a great person, she has really helped Ukrainian people.

The World No 76 will face Marketa Vondrousova for a place in her maiden Grand Slam final

Svitolina (right) managed to get the better of Iga Swiatek for the very first time on Tuesday 

‘It’s not easy to play someone with whom you share a lot of good moments. Thank you for cheering for me,’ she told the crowd.

‘If at the beginning of the tournament if someone told me I was beating the world number one I would tell them they are crazy.’

A see-sawing contest had Svitolina start hesitantly before a policy of trying to rush the Swiatek forehand began to pay dividends. 

As the first set wore on the Pole began to miss badly on that side, and her serve came out in sympathy, also misfiring as the Ukrainian nicked the opener at the end.

Svitolina was also behind in the second, but again clawed her way back into it with Swiatek distrustful of some bounces. 

Iga Swiatek (pictured) crashed out of Wimbledon after a 7-5, 6-7, 6-2 defeat to Elina Svitolina

Svitolina served out the final game to claim a famous victory over the world number one

The Pole was teeing off on some second serves, but Svitolina was making fewer errors in the rallies and moved to 6-5 with a stunning backhand pass.

Swiatek comfortably made it to the tiebreak but fell 4-1 behind after yet another forehand error that was added to by an ace from Svitolina. 

The favourite then rediscovered her range on the forehand and took into a decider from 4-5 down with a succession of penetrating groundstrokes.

Svitolina could easily have been deflated by coming within touching distance of the semi-finals, but quickly swallowed her disappointment to surge ahead, again aided by copious unforced errors from the other end. Two consecutive aces saw her hold for 5-1 and from there she cruised home.