Wimbledon 2023: today’s schedule

There is an obstacle between Elina Svitolina and her first career Grand Slam final at the age of 28 Marketa Vondrousova. The 24-year-old Czech, who precedes the Ukrainian by 34 places in the WTA rankings (42 against 76) has already experienced the thrill of competing for a title in one of the Majors: it happened at Roland Garros in 2019 but then she was probably still too immature. Australia’s Ashleigh Barty, rocketed to the world throne, swept her in a stern 6-1, 6-3. In reality, however, Ms. Monfils is much more used to matches like this, having just returned from maternity leave after giving birth to her daughter Skai on 15 October: in her career she has won 17 titles (against only one of her opponent) and a whopping 203 more games. Furthermore, it should not be forgotten that in her career she was n. 3 in 2017 while Vondrousova was no. 14 just in 2019. The precedents between the two had a strange trend: Svitolina won the first 3, between 2018 and 2019 (one of which thanks to the withdrawal of the opponent down 3-2 in the third, ed), while in the last 2 she has made up for resounding defeats: 6-3, 6-0 in the quarterfinals of Rome 2020 and 6-3, 6-1 at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. A clear sign that the Czech has the weapons to fill the experience gap which divides it from its rival. The two will open the program on the Central at 14.30. It will be played without a roof because rain is not expected in London.

Jabeur-Sabalenka

Then, around 16.15, it will be the turn of the other two semifinalists, the Tunisian Ons Jabeur, seeded no. 6, who is chasing the second final in a row after that of 2022, and the great favorite for the final victory, the n. 2 of the world Aryna Sabalenka, winner this year at the Australian Open. The two have already challenged each other at Wimbledon: it happened in the 2021 quarterfinals when the Belarusian won 6-4, 6-3. That was the second of Sabalenka’s 3 victories with her rival. The first had arrived a few months earlier (6-2, 6-4) in the round of 16 in Abu Dhabi, the third instead he collected in the last duel, which took place in the group stage of the WTA Finals 2022: that day was a battle with difficult success for 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5. And there was also a battle in Jabeur’s only victory, in the first match, at Roland Garros 2020, when the Tunisian won 7-6 (9/7), 2-6, 6-3. Precedents that suggest that once again a hard-fought duel should come out in what, in the opinion of many, is the real anticipated final.