LONDON (AP) 鈥 Elena Rybakina knows people see her as the favorite to win her second Wimbledon title.
The 2022 champion's 6-3, 6-2 victory over No. 21 Elina Svitolina to reach the semifinals on Wednesday will only bolster that view.
鈥淒efinitely, I have an aggressive style of game. I have a huge serve, so it鈥檚 a big advantage,鈥 she said in an on-court interview. 鈥淥f course I want to go until the the end, but match by match. For now, I'm happy with the way I am going.鈥
The 25-year-old Rybakina 鈥 at No. 4 the highest seeded woman left in the draw 鈥 had seven aces and 28 winners to improve her record at the All England Club to 19-2.
Rybakina will next face No. 31 Barbora Krejcikova, who reached her first Wimbledon semifinal by eliminating No. 13 Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 7-6 (4) in a match between former French Open champions.
Krejcikova, who won the title at Roland Garros in 2021, trailed 4-1 in the second set but managed to recover.
Ostapenko, who hadn鈥檛 dropped a set on her run to the quarterfinals, instructed her coach to leave during the second set but it ultimately didn't help the 2017 French Open champion.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great moment for me," said Krejcikova, who is from the Czech Republic. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an unbelievable moment that I鈥檓 experiencing right now.鈥
Krejcikova had struggled with injuries and illness earlier this season.
鈥淭here have been many doubts from the inside, but also from outside 鈥 from the outside world 鈥 but I鈥檓 super happy than I never gave up and that I鈥檓 standing here right now,鈥 she said.
Svitolina, a Ukrainian who is a two-time Wimbledon semifinalist, was not wearing a as she did in her fourth-round match to mourn victims of Russian missile attack.
was in attendance for their Centre Court match, but neither player realized it, they said later.
Svitolina said it was 鈥渁 big privilege to play Wimbledon in front of the queen, even though I didn鈥檛 know. The support that Ukraine been getting from United Kingdom been really unbelievable.鈥
As for the match, Svitolina said Rybakina's game is more than just a big serve.
鈥淓lena is someone that also returns quite good, especially on grass. I mean, grass is such a difficult surface already to return. Then when you have someone who hits the spots good, it鈥檚 extremely difficult,鈥 she said.
Plus, Rybakina is more relaxed compared to two years ago when she .
鈥淚n 2022, I was definitely more nervous than now," she said. "It was the first time for me to play on Centre Court. It was a lot of people, a lot of attention. Now, of course, I got used to it a little bit. I鈥檓 taking these matches in a different way.鈥
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