Wimbledon, July 12 (IANS) Three years after making a breakthrough by winning the French Open title in 2021, Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic stormed back after losing the first set to storm into her second Grand Slam singles final after a stirring semifinal win at the Wimbledon on Thursday.

The No.31 seed Krejcikova booked her spot in Saturday’s summit clash after battling past No.4 seed Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback win in the second semifinal on Thursday.

Krejcikova took 2 hours and 7 minutes to turn around the match and seal victory on Centre Court and will now meet Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, who had earlier scored a hard-fought victory over Donna Vekic of Croatia earlier in the day.

Despite her lower seeding on the day, Krejcikova came into the match with a 2-0 head-to-head lead against Rybakina, and she backed that record up. For the third time in their three meetings, Krejcikova lost the first set before going the distance en route to the win.

Krejcikova handed an extremely rare Wimbledon loss to Rybakina of Kazakhstan. Rybakina entered the match with a 90.5 per cent win rate in the Wimbledon main draw (19-2 before Thursday), which had been third-best in the Open Era behind former champions Ann Jones and Stefanie Graf.

Krejcikova had faced only one Top 10 player this year before Wimbledon — a loss to Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open — but she will now try to defeat two Top 10 players in a row and claim her second Grand Slam singles title.

Paolini awaits Krejcikova in Saturday’s final, after squeaking past Vekic in a down-to-the-wire thriller. The Italian is the first player to make the Roland Garros and Wimbledon finals in the same year since Serena Williams in 2016.

Krejcikova and Paolini have met only once before, quite some time ago and at a completely different level — a first-round qualifying match at the 2018 Australian Open, when they were both ranked outside the Top 100. Krejcikova won that match handily 6-2, 6-1.

Despite having been a Top 10 regular for large chunks of the last few years, Krejcikova’s run to the 2024 Wimbledon final was as unexpected as her 2021 Roland Garros title run, when she was an unseeded player ranked No.33.

With ailments hindering her throughout this year, Krejcikova came into Wimbledon with a 7-9 win-loss record, which even included a trip to the Australian Open quarterfinals in January.

Krejcikova started this year just inside the Top 10, but after a back injury in February took her off the tour for two months, she suffered a five-match losing streak upon return, including a 0-4 record on clay.

But things picked up dramatically once Krejcikova set foot on the grounds of Wimbledon, where she is a two-time doubles champion. Starting with a tough first-round victory over Veronika Kudermetova, ranked only six spots behind her at No.38, Krejcikova accrued several quality wins.

Krejcikova began this year 0-4 against Top 20 players, but she has now won three matches in a row versus that group. She ousted No.11 seed Danielle Collins and No.13 seed Jelena Ostapenko in the prior rounds, before grabbing her 12th career Top 10 win by upsetting Rybakina.

Krejcikova’s 13 Grand Slam main-draw appearances between her first two major finals is the largest gap since her fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova played 18 majors between her 2016 US Open final and her 2021 Wimbledon final.

–IANS

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London, July 12 (IANS) In the final match of his career, retiring England fast bowler James Anderson claimed two wickets on the second day as did Gus Atkinson and Ben Stokes to leave West Indies tottering at 79/6 in their second innings and four wickets away from victory in the first Test at the Lord’s on Thursday.

Anderson bowled a brilliant spell, sending down 28 dot balls in his first 30 deliveries as he ended the day with figures of 10-5-11-2, leaving West Indies struggling. His two wickets in the second innings along with one in the first took his overall tally to 706 wickets in 188 matches, just two short of Australian legend Shane Warne’s haul of 708. If he claims three of the remaining four West Indies wickets, Anderson would retire as the second-most successful bowler in Test cricket behind Muttiah Muralitharan, who leads the pack with 800 wickets from 230 matches.

Anderson started the West Indies collapse by sending back the visiting captain Kraigg Brathwaite (4), sending his wicket cartwheeling with a searing delivery. He then sent back Alick Athanaze, getting him to edge behind to the keeper, thus inching further closer to Warne’s haul.

Fellow pacer Atkinson, who had bagged 7-45 in the first innings to start England’s dominance in the match, claimed the key wickets of Kavem Hodge (4) and Jason Holder (20).

Skipper Ben Stokes sent back Mikyle Louis and Kirk McKenzie to reach the milestone of 200 wickets and 6000 runs in Test cricket, only the third all-rounder to reach the milestone.

The West Indies batters failed to find their feet against some hostile bowling by England as they ended the second day still trailing England trailing by 171 runs after they allowed England to reach 371 all out in 90 overs in their first innings.

Starting at the overnight score of 189/3, England’s first innings was propped up by a 114-ball 68 by former captain Joe Root (4×7) and Harry Brook 50 off 64 balls (4×5, 6×1). Wicket-keeper Jamie Smith struck a 119-ball 70 runs to help the team reach 371 all out.

England just need four more wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the series while West Indies need to score at least 171 runs to avoid the ignominy of an innings defeat.

Brief scores:

West Indies 121 & 79/6 in 34.4 overs (Alick Athanaze 22; James Anderson 2-11, Gus Atkinson 2-27, Ben Stokes 2-25) trail England 371 all out in 90 overs (Zak Crawley 76, Ollie Pope 57, Joe Root 68, Harry Brook 50, Jamie Smith 70; Jayden Seales 4-77, Jason Holder 2-58, Gudakesh Motie 2-41) by 171

–IANS

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London, July 11 (IANS) Italy’s Jasmine Paolini battled from a set down and twice a break down in the decider to outlast Donna Vekic in three sets in the longest semifinal-ever in women’s singles at Wimbledon here on Thursday. Paolini, the No.7 seed, defeated Vekic 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(8) in 2 hours and 51 minutes to become the first Italian woman to reach the final at Wimbledon in the Open Era.

The previous longest Wimbledon semifinal had been Serena Williams’s 6-7(4), 7-5, 8-6 defeat of Elena Dementieva in 2009, a contest which lasted 2 hours and 49 minutes.

Around 15 years on, Paolini held her first match point at 5-4 in the third set and her second at 6-5 before edging Vekic on her third in a gripping super-tiebreak. The result was her third win in four meetings with Vekic. The runner-up at Roland Garros a month ago to Iga Swiatek, Paolini has immediately backed up that run with her second major final. The 28-year-old is the first player since Serena in 2016 to reach both the French Open and Wimbledon finals in the same season.

Paolini is only the fifth player to accomplish that feat in the past 25 years following Steffi Graf (1999), Serena Williams (2002, 2015, 2016), Venus Williams (2002), and Justine Henin (2006).

The runner-up at Roland Garros a month ago to Iga Swiatek, Paolini has immediately backed up that run with her second major final. The 28-year-old is the first player since Serena in 2016 to reach both the French Open and Wimbledon finals in the same season.

Paolini is only the fifth player to accomplish that feat in the past 25 years following Steffi Graf (1999), Serena Williams (2002, 2015, 2016), Venus Williams (2002), and Justine Henin (2006).

In a nerve-wracking clash, Paolini came out on top of the final rally and the Centre Court rose as one to give both competitors a standing ovation at the end of nearly three hours of thrilling tennis.

The closing stages had been the most tense. Vekic had led 3-1 in the third set and broke again for 4-3, but Paolini had pegged her back both times. Vekic managed to find a service winner to stave off one match point down 5-4 but came out on the wrong end of a five-deuce tussle in the subsequent game as Paolini held for 6-5. On the final point of that game, Vekic used up her final Hawkeye challenge and looked devastated as it showed her forehand had gone wide by inches.

But Vekic battled valiantly to the end. She saved another match point down 6-5 by firing a forehand winner to end one of the best rallies of the day and stayed committed to aggression off that wing throughout a tiebreak in which neither player was ever more than two points in front of the other.

As the match went on, though, Paolini was able to find more and more ways to counter Vekic’s pace and was quick to sense an opportunity for herself. Time and again, she tracked down Vekic’s hardest shots, then turned defense into offense as soon as she could set up her forehand. In the end, it was the Vekic forehand that broke down on the two final points.

It was Vekic who set the tone of the first semifinal of the 2024 Wimbledon by winning the first set. Her dominance came on the back of a superb serve. The World No.37 dropped just three points in total on her serve and was remorseless in punishing Paolini’s second serve.

Though Paolini won 11 out of 15 first-serve points, that dropped to just five out of 17 on her second delivery. Unable to get on the front foot consistently, Paolini found only five winners to Vekic’s 12.

But the second set saw Paolini emerge with renewed intensity. She began to read Vekic’s sneak drop shot strategy and responded with pinpoint lobs and brilliant volleys. At 2-2, she fended off two break points with clutch serving.

The turning point came at 4-4. After a desperate defensive lob from Paolini (above), Vekic set up to slam the overhead winner home — only to send it wide of the tramlines. Amid gasps from the crowd, Paolini went on to hold and seized her opportunity in the next game by upping her aggression on return.

–IANS

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London, July 11 (IANS) England all-rounder and captain Ben Stokes has reached the milestone of 200 Test wickets and in the process became only the third player in the history of the game to achieve the double of 200 wickets and 6000 runs. Stokes reached this milestone by dismissing Kirk McKenzie in the second innings of the first Test match against West Indies at the Lord’s on Thursday.

Stokes thus joined the exclusive club of three cricketers to claim 200 wickets and score 6000 runs in Tests. The other two players who share this unique record are Sri Garfield Sobers of the West Indies and Jacques Kallis of South Africa.

The England captain on Thursday also claimed the wicket of Mikyle Louis, taking his tally to 201 wickets. Earlier, he had scored four runs in England’s first innings of 371 all out, taking his tally to 6320.

Gary Sobers was the first player to reach the milestone, taking 235 wickets and scoring 8032 runs. Jacques Kallis achieved 13289 runs and 292 wickets in his iconic career.

–IANS

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Madrid (Spain), July 11 (IANS) Athletic Club Bilbao president, Jon Uriarte on Thursday criticised the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) for allowing winger Nico Williams to be subjected to a continued bombardment of questions over his future. Williams, who celebrates his 22nd birthday on Friday, has been one of the outstanding players in the ongoing European Championships, with several clubs rumoured to be looking at the player who at the end of last year signed a new contract to keep him at Athletic until 2027.

FC Barcelona are one of Williams’ suitors, with Barca president, Joan Laporta stating publicly last week that despite the club’s debts of over 1,000 million euros, they could afford to sign him, reports Xinhua.

Meanwhile, the winger has been bombarded with a continued series of questions over his future during the Euros 2024, leaving Uriarte unhappy the player has been exposed to unnecessary pressure.

“Nico, a footballer who is very committed to Athletic Club, has been subjected to an excessive and uncontrolled bombardment of questions about his future, while he is at the Euros with the Spanish Football Federation, who have not known how to protect him,” said Uriarte.

The Athletic president also had a veiled criticism of Barcelona’s tactic, saying that the Basque club “does not have the formula of subjecting players with contracts to other clubs to public pressure to try to incorporate them.”

Uriarte was speaking as the club officially presented new signings Alvaro Djalo and Andoni Gorosabal at their Lezama training ground and highlighted that last season’s Copa del Rey winners had “the economic, social and sporting capacity to maintain players of William’s stature.”

–IANS

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