Beijing time on July 8th, in the 2022 Wimbledon Tennis Championships women's singles semi-finals, No. 17 seed Rybakina defeated former tournament champion Halep 6-3/6-3 and advanced to the Grand Slam for the first time in her career. In the final, he became the first Kazakh player (male or female) to advance to a Grand Slam singles final in the open era, and the first Asian player (male or female) to advance to the Wimbledon singles final!
The two have played against each other three times before, with Halep having the upper hand with two wins and one loss. The most recent meeting took place in the third round of the US Open last year, when Romania ranked 7-6(11)/4-6/ 6-3 win. In today's game, Rybakina quickly entered the state and broke serve first to lead 3-0. The Kazakhstan girl maintained this advantage until the end of the set, never allowing Halep to get a break point, and successfully held serve in the winning game, winning 6-3.
Entering the second set, Rybakina continued to put pressure on Halep's serve and took a 4-2 lead with one more break. Halep failed to find a chance to break serve in the subsequent game, but Rybakina broke serve again in the return game at the end of the game, sealing the victory 6-3 and advancing to the final with a total score of 2-0.
Rybakina will compete with No. 3 seed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the championship. The latter defeated German veteran T. Maria 6-2/3-6/6-1 and entered the Grand Slam for the first time in his career with 11 consecutive victories on grass. In the final, he became the first Arab/North African player (male or female) to reach a Grand Slam final, and the first African player to advance to a Grand Slam women's singles final.
(Text and Editor: Geoge, Picture: Visual China)
