London (AFP) – Unseeded Marketa Vondrousova said she had a pep talk from her husband during a rain break before roaring back to beat Jessica Pegula and reach her first Wimbledon semi-final on Tuesday.
The Czech player, ranked 42nd in the world, clawed her way back from 4-1 down in the deciding set to win 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
The former French Open finalist was trailing 3-1 in the decider when the rain arrived and forced the closure of the roof on Court No. 1.
Fourth seed Pegula held serve comfortably to make it 4-1 when play resumed but Vondrousova then took charge, winning five games in a row to seal victory.
The 24-year-old revealed she had spoken to her husband Stepan Simek by phone from the locker room.
“He just said, ‘Try to fight, you are playing good, you are playing a great match’,” she said.
“Yeah, that was it. I mean, I think the break helped actually. It was good.”
She was asked whether she would consider getting a tattoo to add to her collection if she goes further at the All England Club.
“We’ll see,” she said. “I always loved it here, but I didn’t do so good. My best result was second round. Now I just get better.
“These two weeks are incredible. I just came here and I just said to myself, ‘Just stay open-minded, just try to play your game and everything’.
‘Crazy match’
“Now this is happening, so it’s a crazy thing. Also today was a crazy match. I’m just a bit in shock.”
After beating seeded players in the past four rounds, Vondrousova will now face Ukrainian wild card Elina Svitolina for a place in Saturday’s final.
“It’s incredible what she has done,” she said of her opponent in the last four, who only returned from maternity leave in April.
“She received a wild card and she’s in the semis. It’s incredible. I feel like it’s such a short time after a baby. She’s doing amazing things.”
Earlier, Pegula was quickly out of the blocks, breaking at her first opportunity but that proved a false dawn as she lost three service games in the first set, landing just 41 percent of her first serves.
The American, 29, found more rhythm on her serve in the second set and cut her error count, surging into a 4-1 lead and sealing the set with her second break.
Pegula was in total charge when she broke again in the fourth game of the decider to lead 3-1 before the match was suspended but she won just one more game.
Vondrousova finished with seven aces, compared with zero for Pegula, hitting 24 winners against 35 unforced errors.
The result was bitterly disappointing for Pegula, who has still never progressed beyond the quarter-final at a major.
