Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 11, 2024 Italy's Jasmine Paolini celebrates winning her semi final match against Croatia's Donna Vekic REUTERS/Hannah Mckay
LONDON (Reuters) - Barbora Krejcikova returned to a Grand Slam singles final three years after her only triumph with a stirring Wimbledon comeback on Thursday that set up a meeting with Italian Jasmine Paolini, who continued to break new ground at the All England Club.
Despite a wealth of major doubles success, Krejcikova came into the contest with 2022 champion Elena Rybakina as the lower-seeded underdog but she kept a cool head after a sluggish start against the big-hitting Kazakh to prevail 3-6 6-3 6-4.
Seventh seed Paolini earlier became the first Italian woman to reach the final after overcoming Croatian Donna Vekic 2-6 6-4 7-6(8) in a thriller, continuing her extraordinary year after last month's French Open runner-up finish.
The results ensured that there will be a different women's champion at the grasscourt major for an eighth straight year and a first-time winner.
Former French Open winner Krejcikova also joined an elite group as the seventh Czech-born woman to make a Wimbledon final in the professional era that began in 1968.
She emulated Hana Mandlikova, Martina Navratilova, Petra Kvitova, Karolina Pliskova, Marketa Vondrousova as well as her mentor and idol Jana Novotna.
"A couple of years I was working with Jana ... She told me a lot of stories about her journey here and how she was trying to win Wimbledon," an emotional Krejcikova said as she remembered 1998 champion Novotna, who died seven years ago.
"I was so far away when we had this talk. Now I'm here and I'm in a final. I remember thinking about her a lot. I have so many beautiful memories. When I step on the court I fight for every single ball as that is what she would want me to do."
MATCH RECORD
Paolini's victory meant the diminutive Italian became the first woman since Serena Williams in 2016 to reach the final at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year.
"Two Grand Slam finals in a row was crazy to believe, I think, no? I'm also surprised ... I'm living this," said Paolini, who had never won a tour match on grass before this year.
"I feel maybe Saturday I'll be so nervous, I don't know. But I also feel relaxed. I'm the same person, doing the same things. I'm surprised a little bit how I'm managing this.
"I don't want to say more because maybe Saturday I'm going to be shaking."
The 28-year-old smiling assassin wobbled early in her match but advanced in two hours and 51 minutes - the longest women's semi-final at Wimbledon - as Vekic bravely played through pain and sobbed at various points before finally losing.
"I thought I was going to die in the third set," said Vekic, who struggled to hold back tears in her press conference.
"I had so much pain in my arm, in my leg. It wasn't easy out there, but I'll recover.
"My tears weren't because I was ... I don't know. I was crying because I had so much pain, I didn't know how I could keep playing."
The attention shifts to the men's semi-finals on Friday, as defending champion Carlos Alcaraz takes on Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev in a repeat of their last-four clash a year ago.
Seven-times champion Novak Djokovic then continues his bid for a record-extending 25th Grand Slam title when he meets Italian Lorenzo Musetti.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar; Editing by Alison Williams)
