Halep was the only major champion left in women’s draw by the quarterfinal stage, and after missing Wimbledon due to Injury in 2021, she appeared poised to roll to a third Grand Slam victory thanks to thudding wins over Paula Badosa and Amanda Anisimova.
Rybakina, who had narrowly lost to the Romanian in their last two meetings—including a 2021 US Open third-round thriller—had to outhit the likes of former Top 10 players CoCo Vandeweghe and Bianca Andreescu just to reach the second week, but was in fine form by the time she faced Halep, winning the first three games and sealing the first set behind 12 winners to just six unforced errors.
"On the previous matches, I had many ups and downs moments," Rybakina said. "But today, even if I lost some points, I was really focused. In the end I'm really happy with my result. I think it's good improvement for me."
Halep’s struggles on serve began early when she threw in an ill-timed double fault to hand Rybakina a break point opportunity, and they continued early in the second set as she fell behind another break.
"I improved a lot in my serve the last three months," a frustrated Halep said after the match. "But today I feel like I went back to my normal one. Many double-faults and too soft.
"Definitely if I would have had a better serve today, would have been better."
The lone wobble came when Rybakina served up 2-1: known for her implacable demeanor and impressive ace count—striking 217 heading into the finals to become the WTA tour’s resident Ace Queen—a rare flash of frustration crossed her face as she found herself broken to love.
Still, Halep couldn’t capitalize as her own serve continued to fail her, ending the match with a paltry 52% first serve percentage.
Rybakina continued to press, striking a clean, flat ball that reverberated through Centre Court, striking a total of 21 winners to 16 unforced errors as she edged within a game of victory.
A ninth double fault erased Halep’s game point as she served to stay in the match and Rybakina stepped in on a powerful forehand to force a first match point, which she cooly converted.
"I mean, I'm smiling," said Rybakina. "I really don't know how I'm going to react because I believe in myself. We worked a lot with my team to get through. Of course, no one expected that it's going to be this week at Wimbledon. But this is something we worked a lot. Everybody believed in me in my team.
"I don't know how I'm going to react. We see tomorrow, after tomorrow, yeah."
She will next face Jabeur in what will be the biggest match of either of their careers: Jabeur leads their head-to-head 2-1, though the pair have split their completed matches with two three-setters on hard courts.
"I remember I met Ons first time I think when we were playing WTA maybe 125K. I came for the first time with my dad and I met her. She was very nice to help me to find the club because she had a car. I remember how I met Ons.
"What she achieved already, it's happening, like, in front of my eyes. We are going, like, together in this journey. I think it's just amazing to think that you are making history."
