Down goes Iga: Svitolina defeats top-ranked Swiatek to reach Wimbledon semifinals

Three months after returning from maternity leave, Elina Svitolina reached the Wimbledon semifinals by beating top-ranked Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2 Tuesday.

The 28-year-old Ukrainian gave birth to her daughter in October and returned to the WTA tour in April. She received a wild-card entry to the grass-court tournament one month after reaching the quarterfinals at the French Open.

"First of all I'm going to have a beer, probably," Svitolina said on court. "At the beginning of the tournament if someone would tell me that I will be in the semifinal and beating world No. 1, I would just say that they're crazy."

Swiatek, a four-time major champion, won her third French Open title last month but was playing in the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time.

Svitolina will next face Marketa Vondrousova for a spot in Saturday's final. It will be the Ukrainian player's second appearance in the Wimbledon semifinals. She lost to eventual champion Simona Halep at that stage in 2019.

"I'm just going to enjoy tonight and then get some treatment, get some massage, much needed and then just regroup and be ready for the next big battle," Svitolina said.

Svitolina has been ranked as high as No. 3 in the world and also reached the U.S. Open semifinals in 2019. She is currently ranked 76th. To reach the semifinals this year, she has beaten four Grand Slam champions — Venus Williams in the first round, Sofia Kenin in the third, Victoria Azarenka in the fourth and Swiatek in the quarterfinals.

Vondrousova won five straight games in the final set to beat fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 on No. 1 Court. The left-handed Czech who reached the French Open final in 2019 trailed 4-1 in the third set but didn't lose another game after