Elina Svitolina lost a rather tough and straightforward match against Marketa Vondrousova 6-3 6-3 in the Wimbledon semifinal. Svitolina is well-known for refusing to shake hands with players from Russia and Belarus following the horrible invasion of Ukraine by these countries. Last year Russian and Belorussian players were banned from playing at Wimbledon. However, the ban was lifted this season.
Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus is in the Wimbledon semifinal, and she is the favorite to conquer the title. After Elina’s match, she was asked the following question: “How bad would it look, symbolically, if the Princess of Wales ends up giving the trophy to a Belarusian?”
Svitolina replied: “I didn’t think about this at all. Right now, I’m not in a good state of mind to reply to this question.”
Sabalenka has clearly stated that she is completely against the war.
Elina Svitolina in 2023
LWWLWLWWLW Now the world no.76, the Ukrainian played her last match on the 13th of July when she was overcome by world no.42 Marketa Vondrousova 6-3 6-3 in the semifinal in Wimbledon (draw).
At the moment, during this season the Ukrainian owns a compiled 17-9 win-loss record. Svitolina clinched 1 title in Strasbourg.
She is also scheduled to play at the U.S. Open (U.S. Open) after Washington. The main draw will start on the 31st of July.
Sabalenka in Wimbledon, ranking, and results in 2023
WWWWWWWWWW Now the world no.2 (career-high), Sabalenka achieved an overall 40-7 record in 2023. Aryna is currently having a run in Wimbledon where she conquered the world no.82 Panna Udvardy 6-3 6-1, the world no.41 Varvara Gracheva 2-6 7-5 6-2, the world no.40 Anna Blinkova 6-2 6-3, the world no.22 Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4 6-0 and the world no.18 Madison Keys 6-2 6-4.
Aryna Sabalenka will square off with the world no.6 Ons Jabeur in the semifinal on Thursday at 3:30 pm on Centre Court. The head to head is 3-1 for Sabalenka.
Sabalenka conquered 3 titles in 2023 in Adelaide, Australian Open and Madrid. Sabalenka was the runner-up in Indian Wells (BNP Paribas Open) and in Stuttgart (Porsche Tennis Grand Prix).
Sabalenka won 13 titles in her career: 9 on hard courts, 2 on clay courts and 2 on indoor courts. (See the list of her titles)
She is also scheduled to play at the U.S. Open (U.S. Open) after Montreal. The main draw will start on the 7th of August.
Elina Svitolina and Aryna Sabalenka faced off 3 times. Their current head to head is 2-1 for Sabalenka. Previously, the last time they squared off, Aryna Sabalenka won 6-4 6-4 in the quarter in Paris (French Open) on the 6th of June 2023.
In the following video you can watch the highlights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5jWssXpvr8
