London: Elena Rybakina recovered from a shaky start to overwhelm Australian Ajla Tomljanovic 4-6 6-2 6-3 on Wednesday and set up a Wimbledon semifinal with Simona Halep, becoming the first Kazakhstan player to reach the last four of a Grand Slam.
Rybakina, the 17th seed, struggled in the first set but then started finding her serving range, at one point taking seven games in a row to secure the second set and put her in control of the third.
The 23-year-old, who would not have been allowed to play at this year's Wimbledon had she not switched allegiance from Russia four years ago, finished the match with an ace - her 15th of the match.
Earlier, for almost 45 minutes, Simona Halep handed out a public flogging to a shell-shocked Amanda Anisimova in their quarterfinal.
It was getting so bad for Anisimova, her fellow American John McEnroe quipped: "This is bordering on embarrassing... this will be over in 10 minutes."
McEnroe's prediction was a little off but Romanian Halep will be fancying her chances of reaching a second Wimbledon final in three editions after subjecting a red-faced Anisimova to a 6-2 6-4 mauling on Centre Court.
Meanwhile, Rybakina struggled to reproduce the serving power and accuracy that had been a hallmark of her march into the last eight, failing to land almost half her first deliveries in the opening set.
She broke early in the second and though Tomljanovic’s athletic court coverage enabled her to hit straight back, the tall Kazak then took total command, breaking to love before winning the set on the back of 11 straight points.
She cranked up the pressure in the decider, taking a 3-0 lead after winning seven games in a row, and breaking again for 5-1.
Tomljanovic was left throwing her arms up in despair as nothing she tried seem to come off and she sensed her hopes of a first Grand Slam semi-final were slipping away for the second year in a row.
Serving for the match and the biggest win of her career, Rybakina slumped to 0-40, and though she fought back to deuce, Tomljanovic completed to break to cling on to her outside hope.
The Kazak then wasted two match points on Tomljanovic’s serve but it was the briefest of respites as Rybakina hammered down three service winners to close out her victory in style.
