Wimbledon (United Kingdom) (AFP)
Karolina Pliskova, 13th in the world, eliminated on Thursday the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (4th), 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, and will face, for her first final at Wimbledon, the N.1 world Ashleigh Barty.
"It's crazy ... until then I had not made the round of 16," commented the 29-year-old who had failed at the gates of the quarter-finals in the last two editions of the Grass Major.
Sabalenka "served really well and I'm super happy to stay in the game and come out of it," added the Czech, who has already played in a Grand Slam final, at the US Open in 2016.
In the first set in fact, Sabalenka was most often in difficulty, having to save 8 break points, but it was ultimately she who managed the only break of the round, on her only opportunity, on her first break point. set.
But in the next two sets, Pliskova took control at the start of the set (at 2-2 in the second set and entering the third) to no longer give up her advantage despite the powerful blows of the Belarusian.
"The balls went so fast sometimes that we didn't have time to think about what to do," Pliskova laughed.
For her part, Sabalenka had her best Grand Slam run to date at Wimbledon, since at 23 she had never made it through the knockout stages of a Major.
© 2021 AFP