Kostyuk powers into second straight Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon

LONDON: Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk reached her second consecutive Grand Slam semi-final with a dominant last-eight victory over former finalist Jasmine Paolini at Wimbledon on Wednesday.

The 12th seed raced to a 6-3, 6-2 victory after just 69 minutes on Centre Court and will face either Czech ninth seed Linda Noskova or Belgium’s Elise Mertens for a place in her first major final.

“First time playing on this unbelievable court, it’s a dream come true,” said the 24-year-old.

“I was on this court as a spectator once nine years ago watching Roger (Federer) and to be back here as a player is amazing. I walked past the ‘wall of honour’, stood beside it and took a moment.”

Kostyuk has only lost one of her last 22 matches, her semi-final defeat by eventual champion Mirra Andreeva at the French Open last month.

She is set to climb into the world’s top 10 next week for the first time in her career, having been just 28th in the rankings as recently as April.

Paolini could not reproduce the form she showed in her fourth-round win over Alexandra Eala, losing in the last eight of a Slam for the first time.

The Italian was playing in her first major quarter-final since reaching the Wimbledon final in 2024, when she was also the French Open runner-up.