Sawt Falasteen - Wimbledon favourite Rybakina among 'top five' servers, says Svitolina

The Kazakh fourth seed won 6-3, 6-2 in just 61 minutes and will face Barbora Krejcikova for a place in Saturday's final.

The 25-year-old crunched 28 winners, including seven aces against her Ukrainian opponent.

Rybakina was broken in the first game on Centre Court in front of the watching Queen Camilla but hit back straight away and barely put a foot wrong after that.

The Russian-born player said Svitolina was a tough opponent, whatever the scoreboard suggested.

Rybakina, the highest-ranked player left in the women's draw, said she did not like to be labelled as the favourite.

"I have an aggressive style of game, I have a huge serve so it's a big advantage," she said.

Svitolina, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals last year, said it was tough to counter Rybakina's power game, describing it as a "difficult day in the office".

Rybakina is joint-leader on ace count at Wimbledon, with 31, and has been broken just six times in the first five rounds.

Svitolina was asked how Rybakina's serve compared with other players she had faced throughout her career.

"For sure top five," she said. "It's a great serve that she has. I feel like Serena (Williams), as well, was unbelievable server.

"I think Elena is someone that also returns quite good, especially on grass. I mean, grass is such a difficult surface already to return. Then when you have someone who hits the spots good, it's extremely difficult."

Svitolina, the 21st seed, said she had not been aware that Queen Camilla, wife of King Charles III, was on court on Wednesday.

Earlier in the week she wore a black ribbon on court hours after a Russian missile barrage that killed dozens, including in Kyiv, where a children's hospital was reduced to debris.

Svitolina, who has been outspoken over the plight of Ukrainians following Russia's invasion of her country, thanked the British people for their "unbelievable" support.

"We couldn't thank enough for all the people, as well, that let a lot of Ukrainians use their homes, share their homes with them," she said.

"Of course, it's something bigger than sport."

H.Jarrar--SF-PST