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Welcome to the Wimbledon briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.
On Day 11, two kinds of breakthrough, a mixed doubles title for a singles star, and a huge shock.
How did two semifinalists make progress even as one lost?
As Linda Nosková and Marta Kostyuk shook hands and left Centre Court after their semifinal Thursday evening, there was the usual dynamic: One winner and one loser. One stepping into their first Grand Slam final, the other thwarted.
Nosková, the 21-year-old Czech whose buzzsaw serve and pillowy touch have propelled her through the draw this past fortnight, took a 6-4, 6-4 win over the 24-year-old Ukrainian. But Kostyuk, who has done tremendous work of her own this season to add solidity and evenness to a tennis arsenal with impossible peaks, but also deep troughs, had reasons to do much more than feel the agony of missing out.
Just over a month ago, she had never played a major semifinal. Now she has played two in a row. She lost both, the first to eventual champion Mirra Andreeva at the French Open. But whether or not Nosková triumphs over compatriot Karolína Muchová Saturday, Kostyuk is on an upward trajectory while 0-2 in major semifinals.
“Nothing changed today. I’m happy with the run. If someone told me two weeks ago I’m going to be here, I would take it without thinking,” she said in a news conference.
Like many tennis players, she has found decoupling success from self-worth a challenge in the past, has arrived at this mindset with plenty of help from her coach, Sandra Zaniewska, and from therapy, Kostyuk said during a recent interview. On Thursday, she was introspective but undimmed, and even went into one of the subjects that tennis players rarely touch. Everybody plays good and great matches all year. The important thing is learning to do it in the big ones — and sometimes, that needs a little fortune.
Nosková needed little of that Thursday, playing the kind of devastating tennis that will beat whoever is on the other side of the net. Still, players don’t go for the lines on every ball. They just often find them if they are in a groove.
“A little bit of luck, maybe, would be good. I didn’t have any in both matches,” Kostyuk said.
“I mean, honestly, jokes aside, I think it’s an important factor, because a lot of things need to align for you to win the title. To play a good match, to be at the level where I am, it’s not an easy thing to do. That’s for sure.
“But yeah, I mean, two times. I played my first semifinal one month ago, and now I’m playing second. It’s a bit of a short time span for these things to kind of create a pattern in some way. I’m hoping I’m going to have a lot more opportunities.”
On her recent form, she will get them.
How did a multidisciplinary tennis star complete her set of trophies?
After the two women’s singles semifinals on Centre Court, the mixed doubles final took center stage — and when it was over, one of the players had reached a very special milestone.
Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open singles champion, partnered with Marcelo Arévalo of El Salvador to defeat Storm Hunter and Marc Polmans of Australia in three sets, coming from behind to triumph 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. That made Ostapenko a Grand Slam champion in singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. That’s a rare and impressive haul.
Ostapenko, 29, won the 2024 U.S. Open doubles with Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok, and last year lost two Grand Slam doubles finals with Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan. Her last mixed doubles final appearance was also at Wimbledon, with Sweden’s Robert Lindstedt, but they lost to Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and Taiwan’s Latisha Chan.
This time around, Ostapenko was not to be denied.
“I felt like it was my third final, and I really wanted to win it. I’m very competitive and I really hate to lose in the finals. I’m like, I’m not losing this third final here at Wimbledon. This is the time we have to take the title, yeah,” she said in a news conference with Arévalo.
“I think at the end of the second set I felt like we raised our level and played better, and the third set was a good one.”
Arévalo will now go for the men’s doubles title alongside Croatia’s Mate Pavić. They face Henry Patten of the U.K. and Finland’s Harri Heliövaara Saturday.
How did the biggest shock of the tournament arrive in an unexpected place?
At first, this year’s Wimbledon was light on upsets and heavy on chalk. Then, defending women’s champion Iga Świątek, world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and 2022 champion Elena Rybakina fell basically all at once.
But other than those, and Ben Shelton and Andreeva’s early exits, this tournament had been fairly light on drama — until Thursday, when the biggest shock of the tournament arrived.
Just not in singles.
On a scorching No. 2 Court, a clutch of fortunate fans got to witness one of the most surprising results in recent doubles history, as No. 10 seeds Kristina Mladenovic of France and Guo Hanyu of China knocked out No. 1 seeds, multi-Grand Slam champions and overwhelming favorites Kateřina Siniaková and Taylor Townsend 7-6(8), 7-5.
Siniaková, of the Czech Republic, and Townsend, of the U.S., made the No. 10 seed do it the hard way — or perhaps they shot themselves in the foot. Siniaková and Townsend led by a break in the opening set, then 4-1 and 5-2 in the first-set tiebreak before losing it 10-8. In the second set, Siniaková and Townsend had two set points on their opponent’s serve to level the match, but Mladenovic and Guo saved them before breaking in the very next game and serving out the win.
This Wimbledon may have been mostly chalky, but this was a seismic shock on singles semifinal day.
Shot of the day
Karolína Muchová hit two incredible volleys in the tiebreak of her win against Coco Gauff. One was diving, and that was very cool — but this one was completely absurd:
Drop Shots
⚔️ Why Gauff and Muchová’s semifinal was a riveting clash of styles.
🇨🇿 The Czech tennis legacy that has helped it produce this year’s women’s finalists.
🚀 How Novak Djokovic’s serve is propelling him toward more tennis history — just like Jannik Sinner’s is doing for him.
Up next: Men’s semifinals
🎾 Arthur Féry (WC) vs. Alexander Zverev (2)
8:30 a.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN Unlimited
Féry’s run to the semifinals as a wild card is already beyond anybody’s wildest expectations. The 23-year-old Brit has both come back from adversity and produced dominant victories, and against Zverev, the 29-year-old French Open champion, he will be the underdog and the home favorite all at once. Féry’s strength is timing, both of his shots and of his attacking forays to the net, but Zverev has the serve to stop him ever getting a look at them.
🎾 Jannik Sinner (1) vs. Novak Djokovic (7)
Follows Féry vs. Zverev on ESPN, ESPN Unlimited
A monumental matchup for both players. Sinner, the 24-year-old defending champion, is serving his way through the tournament while he searches for his true baseline rhythm. Djokovic, 39, has seven Wimbledon titles and is a master of the grass like no one else in the draw. But on a hot afternoon in London, both players’ bodies might be the difference between winning and losing, rather than their tennis.
Wimbledon 2026 women’s bracket
Wimbledon 2026 men’s bracket
Tell us what you noticed on the 11th day…
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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