Wimbledon day 11: Rybakina-Krejcikova and Paolini-Vekic semi-final battles

Elena Rybakina, Barbora Krejcikova, Jasmine Paolini and Donna Vekic take centre stage on Thursday as they battle for a place in the Wimbledon final.

Rybakina, the 2022 champion, was the only one of the semi-finalists to have even reached the last eight in SW19 before this year and is the favourite to be celebrating after Saturday’s final.

Elsewhere, the doubles, wheelchair and junior events continue with plenty of British interest.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at what is happening on day 11.

Long road to the top

Paolini and Vekic have had to wait a while to reach their first Wimbledon semi-finals.

Both born in 1996, the pair had been to a combined 60 grand slam main draws before arriving in SW19 this summer and Paolini’s run to the French Open final last month was the only time either had made the last four.

Paolini had not gone past the second round in any slam before this year – she reached the fourth round in January’s Australian Open before losing to Iga Swiatek in the final at Roland Garros – and had never won at Wimbledon.

But she now has five wins under her belt and has dropped just one set in doing so.

Vekic, meanwhile, is thrilled to be at this stage after she contemplated retirement in 2021 due to injury.

“Those couple of years were very tough. I didn’t think I was ever going to come back to the level that I even (managed) last year,” she said.

“So this now, reaching my best result ever at a slam, I’m really proud of myself, of the work that I’ve done, of the work that my team has done. I’m very thankful to them for believing in me when I didn’t.”

Rybakina on for rare feat

Since Serena Williams won her seventh Wimbledon title in 2016, there have been six Championships completed and six first-time women’s singles winners.

Rybakina could end that sequence by clinching her second title.

The highest seed remaining has blitzed her way through the draw and ended Elina Svitolina’s run with a dominant display in the quarter-finals.

The 25-year-old has won 19 of her 21 matches at Wimbledon – but she has never beaten her semi-final opponent.

Czech 31st seed Krejcikova has a 2-0 record against the Kazakhstani and is looking to pull off a rare feat of her own.

The 28-year-old won the French Open in 2021 and the only other active women’s player to win the Roland Garros and Wimbledon titles during their career is Simona Halep.

Order of play

Centre Court from 1.30pm:
Jasmine Paolini (7) v Donna Vekic
Elena Rybakina (4) v Barbora Krejcikova (31)
Kim Clijsters/Martina Hingis v Francesca Schiavone/Agnieszka Radwanska (invitational doubles)

Court One from 1pm:
Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos v Max Purcell/Jordan Thompson (men’s doubles)
Neal Skupski/Michael Venus v Henry Patten/Harri Heliovaara (men’s doubles)
Marcus Willis/Alicia Barnett v Santiago Gonzalez/Giuliana Olmos (mixed doubles)
Alfie Hewett/Gordon Reid v Martin De La Puente/Joachim Gerard (wheelchair doubles)

Weather

Sunny intervals changing to cloudy by night time, with highs of 24, according to the Met Office.