Elina Svitolina will play former No.1 Simona Halep in the first semifinal. Ukrainian eighth seed Svitolina lost to Halep in their only grand slam meeting in 2017, losing the third set 6-0 after having match point in the second set.

This is Svitolina’s first grand slam semi final and the biggest match of her career. That gives Halep a slight edge going into the match.

In the other semifinal, Serena Williams is the overwhelming favorite against Barbora Strycova, a surprise semifinalist.  Strycova is 33 years old and there have been rumors that this may be her last Wimbledon.

Older is Better

Nine of the 16 men’s players in the 4th round are over 30 – Djokovic, Federer, Nadal, Bautista, Paire, Verdasco, Kukushkin, Querrey, Sousa.  Two youngest are Matteo Berrettini (23) and  Ugo Humbert (21).

Idols are not forever

Berrettini, grew up idolizing Fededer like: “I kind of stopped cheering for him when I first saw my name and his name in the same draw. I realized I had to stop cheering for him.”

Interesting 4th round matches on the women’s side:

Kvitova vs. Konta
Halep vs. Gauff (Halep should get it done without drama)
Bary Vs Riske (Barty should win, but Riske is the grass court specialist)

Interesting 4th round matches on the men’s side:

Federer vs Berrettini (Berrettini has been on a hot run, Federer has struggled a bit)
Querrey vs Sandgren (the fact that they are here in the 4th round is good news for US tennis)
Djokovic Vs Humbert (Humbert won’t be too much trouble for Djokovic but the 21-year old has a promising future.

Is Nishikori Okay?

Kei Nishikori has almost perfected the art of wearing himself out in the first week and then losing badly in the second week.  That has not been the case at this Wimbledon.  The new Mr. Efficient won all his matches in straight sets.

You can’t wait forever

Roger Federer: “Took me two years to find a date for Match of Africa 6, was trying to be as little annoying for Rafa as possible, but at some point of time I had to force it a bit and say, give me a date now“