Anna Kalinskaya had a horrendous time on Center Court at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships on Monday, sustaining an injury that left her in tears following a mid-match retirement. To make matters worse, her boyfriend Jannik Sinner was in the stands watching on, and cut a sorry picture as she bid a tearful farewell to fans.
Kalinskaya started strong in the fourth-round clash against Elena Rybakina, earning an early break to go 3-1 up. However, Rybakina turned the momentum after that, rattling off five games in a row to take the set 6-3. The former Wimbledon champion then made it nine games in a row, starting the second set with a 3-0 lead.
Kalinskaya, who had already requested a medical time-out in the first set for treatment in her arms, decided to withdraw from the contest at that point, surprising everyone at SW19. The 17th seed left the court emotionally drained, just as the cameras caught Sinner painfully looking on from her player’s box.Rybakina has now reached her third straight quarterfinal at the Grass Major. In 2022, she went all the way to win her maiden Grand Slam title, while she went out in the quarterfinals last year.
Meanwhile, this was Anna Kalinskaya’s best run at Wimbledon and her best run ever at a Grand Slam. The World No. 17 had never reached the second week at a Major previously. Her boyfriend Sinner, on the other hand, is into the quarterfinals at SW19, where he is scheduled to take on former World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev up next.
Elena Rybakina to next take on Elina Svitolina or Wang Xinyu in Wimbledon quarterfinals after Anna Kalinskaya win
Following her win over Anna Kalinskaya, Elena Rybakina will next take on either Elina Svitolina or Wang Xinyu in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. The duo are currently locked in battle, with Svitolina taking the opening set 6-2.
Should she reach the semifinals, Rybakina is likely to come up against either 13th seed Danielle Collins (fourth round vs Barbora Krejcikova) or 11th seed Jelena Ostapenko (fourth round vs Yulia Putintseva). Rybakina has now emerged as the favorite to win the title at Wimbledon, following the exits of World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, World No. 2 Coco Gauff and two-time defending runner-up Ons Jabeur.A win this week will see the Kazakh lift her second Grand Slam title and second at the tournament, in what would be her third Major final (loss to Aryna Sabalenka at the 2023 Australian Open).