Wimbledon women's semi-finals: Tips and suggested bets

Elena Rybakina is the only former champion in the last four at Wimbledon this term, when it comes to the women's singles making her the heavy favourite for the title.

The trio of other women in the hunt for the title cannot be written off and their number contains former French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova who will face Rybakina in the first of the semi-finals.

The other semi-final will pit Donna Vekic, chasing her first Major final, against Jasmine Paolini who was runner-up at the French Open last month.

Krejcikova holds a 2-0 career head-to-head lead over Rybakina but they have not met since October 2022 and the semi-final at Wimbledon will be their first battle on grass.

Vekic and Paolini have faced each other three times, to date, with the Italian holding a 2-1 lead in their rivalry. This will also be their first meeting on grass.

Paolini and Vekic have both played well above the level that their previous records on grass suggested they were capable of during their path to this Wimbledon last-four meeting.

Vekic needs to win the semi-final in order to rise to a new career-high ranking next week while Paolini is already guaranteed to climb up to No 5 which would be a new peak for her as well.

Rybakina would have to win the championship to supplant Aryna Sabalenka as the new No 3 in the rankings, meanwhile, former world No 2 Krejcikova would return to the top ten if she claimed the Wimbledon title.

Wimbledon women's semi-finals: Barbora Krejcikova vs Elena Rybakina | Pick: Rybakina

Wimbledon women's semi-finals: Donna Vekic vs Jasmine Paolini | Pick: Paolini

 

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Wimbledon women's semi-finals: Barbora Krejcikova vs Elena Rybakina

It seems as though Elena Rybakina is on course to sweep to the Wimbledon title but Krejcikova has all the tools to dismantle her game and has proven it in the past.

Not only does she have the two wins in the bank against Rybakina but also put away a player sporting more power than she does in the last eight.

There is clear risk involved in backing Krejcikova but even the unqualified win for the Czech star would yield a sizeable return.

In both of their previous meetings, Rybakina has won the first set before going on to lose the match. This contest could well go to three sets and could reward those backing a 2-1 set scoreline.

Krejicova has played five tiebreakers in her run to the last four while Rybakina hasn't engaged in a single one.

In a semi-final neither player will want to make an early mistake and it's likely that the first set of the match will go to a tiebreaker with the Czech's good run in tiebreakers giving her an edge. Back a 7-6 scoreline in this instance.

You could double up on your scoreline bet by backing Krejcikova to take that opening tiebreaker.

Rybakina is short to take the opening frame but there are clear indicators that Krejcikova could spring a surprise.

 

Wimbledon women's semi-finals: Donna Vekic vs Jasmine Paolini

Paolini is favoured by most sportsbooks in this clash thanks to her recent form but Vekic isn't being offered at long odds for the win either.

Two of the previous three matches between these players have gone to an opening set tiebreaker which puts that 7-6 scoreline right in play with Paolini likely to shade it.

The Italian has won two of the three tiebreakers she has been involved in while Vekic won one and lost one during the same match in the third round.

Paolini has done well to close out matches once she gets on top and looks good to put up the set score of 2-0 over Vekic in this contest.

It looks likely that Paolini will win the opening set of this encounter but the odds offered make that little more than a sweetener to your Wimbledon acca on Thursday.