It took her a while to figure it out. Anisimova would win their first four matches, before Sabalenka finally got on the board in 2022. Since then, the WTA’s No. 1 has fought their rivalry to a draw, and won their most recent match, in two pretty close sets, at Roland Garros in June.

The balls kept on listening to Iga Swiatek on Wednesday as the Polish eighth seed walloped Liudmila Samsonova 6-2 7-5 to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time. After years of nightmare outings at the spiritual home of lawn tennis,