Two women will take to Centre Court this Thursday afternoon with the hopes of booking their spot in the Wimbledon final, with Elena Rybakina taking on Barbora Krejcikova in the semi-finals.
In the other, early semi-final, we see Jasmine Paolini vs Donna Vekic.
Rybakina was here this time two years ago, while Krejcikova is making her deepest run ever at the tournament. Who will prevail and make it through to Saturday’s championship match?
Rybakina vs Krejcikova Odds
Before we get into our analysis of this semi-final match up, let’s look at the latest Rybakina vs Krejcikova odds:
- Elena Rybakina @ 1.20 | -500
- Barbora Krejcikova @ 3.50 | +250
Tennis bookmakers have No 4 seed Rybakina as a heavy favorite in Thursday’s match. The Kazakh pays a low 1.20 (-500) to win, well ahead of Krejcikova odds of 3.50 (+250). She’s given a reasonably significant handicap as well, with odds of 1.85 (-118) to win by more than 4.5 games.
Set betting unsurprisingly has the most likely outcome as a 2-0 scoreline to Rybakina. This pays 1.61 (-163), while the same result but for Krejcikova yields a hefty 7.50 (+650). Total games are at 21.5, with the over market returning 1.91 (-110) and the under at 1.80 (-125). Placing a bet? Learn how to bet on tennis matches.
Rybakina vs Krejcikova Preview
Elena Rybakina
With Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka all failing to make deep runs at this year’s Wimbledon, Rybakina is now the heavy favorite to take out the title. But even before these names fell, the No 4 seed was our pick to take out the title, and for good reason.
Rybakina has had a brilliant year in 2024. She began in winning fashion, defeating Sabalenka in the Brisbane final for the loss of just three games. While an early loss in Melbourne was a disappointment, she made up for that by winning her very next tournament in Abu Dhabi.
Since then, she’s gone on to make the final of two WTA 1000s (lost to Swiatek Qatar and Danielle Collins in Miami), win another WTA 500 in Stuttgart, plus make the quarter-finals of the French Open. Of the 47 matches she’s played this season, the Kazakh has lost just seven.
Here at Wimbledon, she’s only gone from strength to strength. Rybakina has dropped only one set (in the second round to Laura Siegemund). Outside of this, she’s dominated, losing four games against Elena Gabriela Ruse, one against Caroline Wozniacki, three against Anna Kalinskaya and most recently, five in the quarter-finals against Elina Svitolina.
Barbora Krejcikova
Krejcikova couldn’t have had a more different year from Rybakina.
The Czech came into Wimbledon in shocking form. Since making the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, she has only won three matches. Admittedly, an ongoing lower back injury has kept her off the court for big chunks of the year. Still, her last 10 matches have held seven losses, making her Wimbledon run all the more surprising.
This isn’t Krejcikova’s first time at the business end of a Grand Slam, however. In 2021, she put together a barnstorming run to win the French Open, making her the only woman in the last six years not named Swiatek to lift the trophy in Paris. She’s also won seven Grand Slams in the doubles, including at least one in each of the last three years.
The former world No 2 has seen off some tough opponents this year at Wimbledon. She began her campaign with a gritty 7-6(4), 6-7(1), 7-5 win over Veronika Kudermetova, before edging Katie Volynets in a similarly tight 7-6(6), 7-6(5) second-round match. Krejcikova then moved past Jessica Bouzas Maneiro for the loss of only three games, before ousting the in-form Danielle Collins in straight sets too.
Most recently, the world No 32 defeated No 13 seed Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets as well to book her spot in the Wimbledon semi-finals.
Rybakina vs Krejcikova Prediction
Krejcikova has done well to make it this far, and will play with the freedom of a heavy underdog. While this will be tricky for Rybakina to navigate, we’re sticking with our pre-tournament prediction and expect the Kazakh to be too strong for her.
Rybakina is a natural grass court player, with excellent movement, a booming serve and hard, flat groundstrokes. While Krejcikova has been playing well, this semi-final is a significant step up for her.
There’s a case to be made for Krejcikova winning this one, given she leads the pair’s head-to-head 2-0. However, we think Rybakina will be locked in and won’t make the same mistakes she made against Krejcikova in their previous matches. Expect this one to be another reasonably one-sided procession for the top remaining seed.
Prediction: Rybakina in straight sets.
Think Krejcikova has what it takes to pull off an upset against Rybakina? Let us know in the comments below!
