Wimbledon semi-final tips: Elina Svitolina to prove a point, and Novak Djokovic's unstoppable march
- James Richardson
- 11 July 2023
Here Planet Sport looks ahead to the first pair of semi-finals set for the men's and women's singles and picks the expected winners.
We have learned the lineups for one of each of the singles semi-finals at Wimbledon.
Here we look at what to expect from the semi-finals set on Tuesday, 11 June.
On the women's side of the draw, a pair of stunning results saw Elina Svitolina and Marketa Vondrousova defeat illustrious opponents to secure a Grand Slam semi-final face-off.
Italian Jannik Sinner will be the underdog when he takes on Novak Djokovic, but he has the game to push the Serbian if not beat him.
Women's singles semi-final:
Elina Svitolina vs Marketa Vondrousova | Pick: Svitolina
Men's singles semi-final:
Jannik Sinner vs Novak Djokovic | Pick: Djokovic
Women's singles semi-final: Elina Svitolina vs Marketa Vondrousova
Elina Svitolina has enjoyed an incredible run to her third career Grand Slam semi-final but faces a tough test to reach her first Major championship match.
Marketa Vondrousova has been to a Grand Slam final, finishing as runner-up at the 2019 French Open, but this will be just her second semi-final at Slam level.
Svitolina has returned to the game just a few short months after giving birth to her first child with her husband, Gael Monfils. She had a memorable run to the French Open quarter-finals last month.
While Svitolina holds the edge in the head-to-head against former top 20 player Vondrousova, the Czech has won the last two meetings between the players, and they have not shared a meeting on grass.
Each match Vondrousova has played has presented a significant challenge, but she has dropped just two sets across five matches.
Svitolina's aggressive approach was enough to overwhelm the world No 1, and if she plays the same kind of game against Vondrousova she will deserve being heavily favoured.
Men's singles semi-final: Jannik Sinner vs Novak Djokovic
Jannik Sinner will play in his first-ever Grand Slam semi-final, having won a match in the last eight of a Major for the first time in five attempts.
Sinner had expressed quiet confidence going into his match with Roman Safiullin, but he won't be able to feign the belief that he 'should' come out on top when he meets Djokovic.
In his ten matches on grass so far this season, Sinner has lost twice, going down to big-serving Alexander Bublik in Halle, but his loss in the Netherlands might be more pertinent.
Sinner lost to Emil Ruusuvuori, a player similar in physical stature to both Djokovic and the Italian.
Djokovic has had to be at his best over the last two rounds with tough matches against Hubert Hurkacz and Andrey Rublev.
The defending champion Djokovic will be out to extend his dominance over Sinner into a 3-0 career record and be just one match away from claiming his eighth Wimbledon title.
Djokovic has won an incredible 44 matches in a row on Centre Court at Wimbledon, and while Sinner is tipped as a future Grand Slam winner, it seems that the seven-time champion is on the brink of another final at SW19.
