2022 Wimbledon: Elena Rybakina beats Simona Halep to reach final
Number 17 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan eased past 2019 champion and number 16 seed Simona Halep of Romania 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday to reach the 2022 Wimbledon final. Rybakina claimed a win in just an hour and 15 minutes, handing Halep her first loss at Wimbledon since 2018. Rybakina will face Ons Jabeur in the final on Saturday.
Rybakina will now face another first-time Slam finalist Jabeur of Tunisia next. Jabeur leads their head-to-head series 2-1, with Rybakina winning their first meeting in 2019 but Jabeur winning both matches last year. As per WTA, Rybakina has become the youngest Wimbledon finalist since Garbine Muguruza in 2015. She now has a 27-12 win-loss record this season. She has a 9-1 record at Wimbledon.
With this loss, Halep now owns a 29-9 win-loss record at Wimbledon. Overall, she has a tally of 112-43 in her Grand Slams career. She had reached the semis for the third time at Wimbledon. 30-year-old Halep has a 31-9 win-loss record in 2022.
Rybakina beat CoCo Vandeweghe in the first round, winning 7-6, 7-5. The second round saw her seal a win over Bianca Andreescu 6-4, 7-6. She fought hard against Qinwen Zheng next, winning 7-6, 7-5. She overcame Petra Martic next (7-5, 6-3). In the quarters, she ended the run of Ajla Tomljanovic in a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win. In the semis, she has thumped Halep.
