“I cannot believe it” – Unseeded Vondrousova into maiden Wimbledon semi-final

She still has a losing record on the surface, but Marketa Vondrousova is through to the semi-finals of the grass-court Slam

Marketa Vondrousova at Wimbledon (Action Plus/Panoramic)

Carrie Dunn

July 11, 2023

Unseeded Marketa Vondrousova is into her first ever Wimbledon semi-final, beating fourth seed Jessica Pegula 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

Vondrousova won five straight games in the third set to secure the win; when the roof shut for rain, she was 4-1 down to Pegula.

She is the sixth Czech woman to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals – along with Petra Kvitova, Jana Novotna, Karolina Pliskova, Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova.

And she did it by taking out her fourth seed of the tournament, following 12th seed Veronika Kudermetova, 20th seed Donna Vekic and 32nd seed Marie Bouzkova.

She is the third woman in the Open Era to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals after defeating four seeded opponents, along with Strycova (in 2019) and Zheng Jie (in 2008).

Vondrousova: I love grass now

“It’s an amazing feeling, I cannot believe it,” she said afterwards, thanking the fans on Court No 1 for their support.

“I wanted to stay [here] as long as I could and just fought until the end.”

It has been a battling campaign in SW19 from her. She arrived with only four grass-court main-draw wins in her entire career, and still has a 9-11 losing record on the surface.

“I’m loving grass now! It’s amazing!” she laughed.

For Pegula’s part, this is her sixth defeat in a Grand Slam quarter-final; she has yet to record a win at this stage of a major.