With a display of power tennis that had Centre Court gasping, Elena Rybakina reached her first grand slam final with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Simona Halep.
But in doing so the 23-year-old has also given Wimbledon a looming headache. When the All England Club decided to ban Russian and Belarussian players from this year’s tournament, it was partly to try to avoid the scenes of the Duchess of Cambridge presenting the trophy to a Russian-born player.
However after this performance, there is the very real prospect of Rybakina – who was born in Russia and represented her home country throughout her childhood before switching to play for Kazakhstan when she was 19 – lifting the famous Venus Rosewater Dish when she faces Ons Jabeur on Saturday.
Certainly if she plays as well as she did against Halep, she will have every chance. The Romanian had won 12 straight matches at Wimbledon, including taking the 2019 title – the longest streak since Serena Williams won 20 matches in a row between 2015 and 2018.