Belinda Bencic, Iga Swiatek reach Wimbledon semifinals

Unseeded Belinda Bencic and No. 8 seed Iga Swiatek advanced to the Wimbledon semifinals with wins in straight sets on Wednesday in London.

Bencic edged seventh-seeded Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) and Swiatek ousted 19th-seeded Russian Liudmila Samsonova 6-2, 7-5 in the grass-court quarterfinals.

No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus will take on No. 13 seed Amanda Anisimova of the U.S. in Thursday's other semifinal.

Bencic, 28, needed two hours and seven minutes to eliminate Andreeva, 18, and match her deepest-ever run at a Grand Slam event. The Switzerland native lost in her only other major semifinal at the 2019 U.S. Open.

"I'm just speechless, honestly," Bencic said

Both players dropped serve only once each, and Andreeva finished with more winners (35-20) and more unforced errors (37-24). Bencic proved superior in the tiebreaks, however, taking a 3-1 lead in the first and a 4-1 lead in the second set.

Bencic is making her comeback on the WTA Tour after giving birth to a daughter, Bella, in April 2024.

"I'm very proud, actually. All my career, I didn't say it a lot to myself, but after having Bella, I really say it to myself every day," Bencic said. "We are just enjoying life on tour with Bella, traveling. It's been beautiful to create these memories together. And obviously, to play great is so amazing, but for me, it's a bonus. I'm generally just really happy to be able to play again."

Swiatek made it to the Wimbledon final four for the first time. The five-time Grand Slam winner improved to 8-1 this year on grass, having reached the Bad Homburg final last month.

"I, for sure, feel like I really worked hard to progress here on this surface," Swiatek said. "So this year, I feel like I can just work with it and work with myself. I'll just keep doing that."

She is the first Polish woman to make the Wimbledon semifinals since Agnieszka Radwanska in 2015 and becomes the fourth active player to reach all four Grand Slam semifinals, along with Sabalenka, Victoria Azarenka and Karolina Pliskova.

Swiatek, 24, saved eight of 10 break points and broke Samsonova's serve five times. Samsonova committed five double faults and finished with 38 unforced errors -- 14 more than Swiatek.

Swiatek was leading 4-2 and 40-0 in the second set before Samsonova mounted a comeback and leveling at 5-5 before running out of steam.

--Field Level Media