Wimbledon 2024: Elena Rybakina vs Barbora Krejcikova preview, head-to-head, prediction, odds, and pick
Match Details
Fixture: (4) Elena Rybakina vs (31) Barbora Krejcikova
Date: July 11, 2024
Tournament: Wimbledon 2024
Round: Semifinal
Venue: All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, England
Category: Grand Slam
Surface: Grass
Prize Money: £50,000,000
Live Telecast: USA - ESPN, Tennis Channel | UK - BBC | Canada - TSN/RDS, ESPN International
Elena Rybakina vs Barbora Krejcikova preview
World No. 4 Elena Rybakina will take on 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova in the semifinals of Wimbledon 2024 on Thursday, July 11.
Rybakina commenced her quest for a second title at SW19 with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Elena-Gabriela Ruse. She dropped a set against Laura Siegemund in the next round but recovered to win in three sets. She then raced past Caroline Wozniacki in under an hour with a 6-0, 6-1 scoreline.
The Kazakh was cruising towards a win over Anna Kalinskaya in the fourth round when the latter retired in the second set due to an injury. She was up against last year's Wimbledon semifinalist Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals.
Rybakina was unstoppable and both sets played out in the same way. She broke Svitolina's serve twice in each set to register a 6-3, 6-2 win and make the last four here for the second time.
Krejcikova needed three sets to get past Veronika Kudermetova in her opener. She edged past Katie Volynets in two tight sets after that and advanced to the fourth round as Jessica Bouzas Maneiro retired during their third-round clash.
Krejcikova defeated Danielle Collins 7-5, 6-3 to set up a quarterfinal showdown against Jelena Ostapenko. An early break of serve in the Czech's favor laid the groundwork for her to claim the first set.
Ostapenko jumped to a 4-1 lead in the second set but Krejcikova turned the tables on her in no time. She swept the next four games to go 5-4 up and stepped up to serve for the match.
The twists kept coming as Ostapenko broke her serve to keep herself in contention. However, this wasn't the start of an epic comeback as Krejcikova pipped her in the ensuing tie-break to score a 6-4, 7-6 (4) win and reach the semifinals here for the first time.
Elena Rybakina vs Barbora Krejcikova head-to-head
Krejcikova leads Rybakina 2-0 in the head-to-head. She won their previous encounter at the 2022 Ostrava Open in three sets.
Elena Rybakina vs Barbora Krejcikova odds
(Odds are sourced from BetMGM)
Elena Rybakina vs Barbora Krejcikova prediction
Rybakina improved her record at Wimbledon to 19-2 following her win over Svitolina. She blasted 28 winners in contrast to 15 unforced errors in the previous round and won 85 percent of her first serve points.
Krejcikova has captured a couple of doubles titles at the All England Club and has now finally made it deep in singles. She has a chance to follow in the footsteps of her late mentor Jana Novotna and hoist the winner's trophy on Saturday.
Krejcikova will first need to get past Rybakina, though she will fancy her chances against her as she has a perfect winning record in this rivalry. However, both of their previous matches went the distance, and now they're playing on the Kazakh's turf as well.
As all the top contenders kept dropping like flies, Rybakina's status as the favorite kept on increasing with every round. Having won Wimbledon in the past, she knows what it takes to go all the way. Her huge serve and precise groundstrokes could smother Krejcikova's chances of a triumph, and propel her into a second final at the venue.
Pick: Elena Rybakina to win in three sets.