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Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani have advanced to their third Grand Slam women’s doubles semifinal of the year after a 6-1, 6-2 win over Poland’s Katarzina Piter and Anna Siskova of Czechia on Wednesday at Wimbledon.
Dabrowski and Stefani, the second seeds at the grass-court major, have yet to drop a set at the tournament and have held their opponents to two or fewer games won in six of the eight sets they have played.
The duo combined for an effective service game on Wednesday, winning 78 per cent of total service points and not facing break point.
They broke Piter and Siskova four times on nine chances in a match that was wrapped up in just under an hour.
Dabrowski and Stefani will next face Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Taiwan’s En-shuo Liang at the All England Club.
The duo, which has three tournament wins this season, is looking for its first Grand Slam final appearance this season after losing to top-ranked Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend in the French Open semifinals and falling to Anna Danilina and Aleksandra Krunic in the final four at the Australian Open.
WATCH | Dabrowski, Stefani capture Eastbourne Open title:
Canada’s Dabrowski and double partner Stefani capture Eastbourne Open WTA doubles title
Canada’s Gab Dabrowski and Brazilian parter Luisa Stefani defeated Dutch player Isabelle Haverlag and Maia Lumsden of Scotland 6-1, 6-4 in the doubles final at the Eastbourne Open in Eastbourne, England Sunday.Kostyuk hoping to flip script
In women’s singles play, Marta Kostyuk made a big impression in her Centre Court debut by beating Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-2 to reach her first Wimbledon semifinals.
The 24-year-old Ukrainian also reached the last four at the French Open, losing to Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, the eventual champion in Paris.
The 12th-seeded Kostyuk had a sneak peak at Centre Court on Tuesday so that she wasn’t overwhelmed for the match.
“I was flabbergasted by this entrance and everything inside,” she said in an on-court interview. “I was like, `wow,’ I need one day to recover from what I saw. … I was on this court as (a) spectator once nine years ago watching Roger [Federer].”
Kostyuk will be back on Centre Court on Thursday to face Linda Noskova for a spot in Saturday’s final. Noskova beat Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-5 on No. 1 Court.
It’s the first career Grand Slam semifinal for the 21-year-old Noskova, who improved to 10-1 on grass this season.
The other women’s semifinal features Coco Gauff against Karolina Muchova, who like Noskova is from the Czech Republic. They’re up first on Centre Court on Thursday.
Fritz has knee issue flare up in loss to Zverev
Taylor Fritz was three games into his Wimbledon quarterfinal against Alexander Zverev when his knee tendinitis started flaring up, and the American knew right away he was in trouble.
“I was just like panicking, ‘What am I going to do?”‘ the sixth-seeded Fritz said. “I just didn’t expect it at all.”
In the end, there was nothing he could do.
Zverev’s serve and the pain in Fritz’s knee were too much to overcome as the last American man left in the singles tournament lost 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 on No. 1 Court on Wednesday.
Fritz, who reached the 2024 U.S. Open final after beating Zverev in the quarterfinals, has struggled with knee tendinitis in the past. But he had no indication previously at Wimbledon that it might flare up again, aside from a bit of pain toward the end of his fourth-round win over Alexander Bublik.
“I expected, after a light day yesterday, to feel fine today,” he said. “Felt like my warm-up was great. Then, yeah, I have no answers as to why three games in it was like that.”
Fritz took a medical timeout during the second set to have his right knee worked on by a physio, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Zverev from ending a seven-match losing streak against the American.
‘Ferytale’ continues in London
The “Ferytale” continues at Wimbledon.
Arthur Fery grew up five minutes from the All England Club and now the 114th-ranked player is a semifinalist at the grass-court Grand Slam.
The 23-year-old British player, who needed a wild-card invitation to enter the tournament, beat ninth-seeded Flavio Cobolli 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-0 on Centre Court in front of roaring home fans and a Royal Box contingent that included Britain’s Queen Camilla on Wednesday.
Fery earned a standing ovation after winning the first set. The deafening roar that followed Fery taking the tiebreaker to seal the second set was heard inside Wimbledon’s other main stadium — No. 1 Court, where Alexander Zverev was in the process of beating Taylor Fritz in straight sets.
Fery sealed his historic victory with an ace and fell onto his back to soak in the applause. Moments later, Zverev wrapped up his 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win to set up a semifinal against Fery on Friday.
Fery became just the second player to reach the men’s singles semifinals at Wimbledon as a wild card, after 2001 champion Goran Ivanisevic.
On No. 1 Court, French Open champion Alexander Zverev was facing Taylor Fritz of the United States.