There was little in Elena Rybakina’s understated celebration – the clenched fist and slow stroll to the net – to suggest she had produced the performance of her life to demolish former champion Simona Halep and reach the Wimbledon final on Thursday.
Yet by romping into Saturday’s showpiece, her maiden Grand Slam final, with a 6-3 6-3 win that was as clinical as it was brutal, she set up a showdown with Tunisian Ons Jabeur that few would have predicted at the tournament’s outset.
Halep was caught in the crosshairs of an onslaught from the Russian-born Kazakh, who pummelled the Romanian with rasping serves and savage forehands.
Halep, the champion in 2019 who had not dropped a set at the All England Club since the second round of that tournament, did not help her cause with a string of double faults that handed Rybakina chances at key moments.
Yet the 17th seed needed little assistance, as she became the first player from Kazakhstan to reach a Grand Slam final.
“I don’t know how to describe it but it was really, really good,” the 23-year-old said after wrapping up victory to become the youngest Wimbledon finalist since Garbine Muguruza in 2015.
“Usually, of course, I have ups and downs and it comes from the nerves. But I think today I was mentally prepared and I did everything that I could and it was an amazing match.”
The Centre Court crowd had willed Halep to get into the contest but the 16th seed was a clear second best from the start as she attempted to go toe-to-toe from the back of the court.
“Somehow I think I gave her the perfect ball to do her game, to feel comfortable on court,” said Halep. “But, as I said, all the credit to her. She deserved to win today with the way I played.”
Rybakina just had too much power and aggression for the Romanian, who wilted under the pressure.
