Wimbledon 2023: Unseeded Vondrousova holds off Pegula to reach semifinals

London, July 11 (IANS) Marketa Vondrousova came back from a breakdown in the third set to upset No.4 Jessica Pegula and reach the semifinals of the Wimbledon, here on Tuesday.

Vondrousova won the last five games to defeat No.4 seed Jessica Pegula 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in a rousing match on Court No.1. Vondrousova entered the tournament with only four career main-draw wins on grass. Now, in less than a fortnight, she’s scored a handful.

The 24-year-old from the Czech Republic will play the second major semifinal of her career on Thursday against No.1 Iga Swiatek or unseeded Elina Svitolina who were still playing on Centre Court.

This was the fourth consecutive match in which Vondrousova defeated a seeded player. Previously, she was a winner over No.12 Veronika Kudermetova, No.20 Donna Vekic and No.32 Marie Bouzkova. She's only the third woman in the Open Era to reach the Wimbledon semifinals after defeating four seeded opponents, along with Zheng Jie (2008) and Barbora Strycova (2019).

And while she’s ranked only No.42 among WTA Tour players, the lowest among quarterfinalists, Vondrousova is now a level 7-7 against Top five opponents for her career. With a pair of victories over Ons Jabeur earlier this year in Melbourne and Indian Wells, Vondrousova has won three straight.

On the other hand, it was a disappointing performance for Pegula, who has yet to win a major quarterfinal in six tries.

In 2019, Vondrousova played the tournament of her life, reaching the final at Roland Garros before falling to Ashleigh Barty. She's the sixth Czech woman to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon, joining Petra Kvitova, Jana Novotna, Karolina Pliskova, Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova.

Vondrousova is also only the fifth left-handed player to reach this stage here in the past 30 years, along with Martina Navratilova, Petra Kvitova, Lucie Safarova and Angelique Kerber.

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