Laura Siegemund's Wimbledon dream ends in the quarterfinals
Disappointed but also proud, Laura Siegemund left Centre Court at Wimbledon and waved to the crowd, who rose to their feet and applauded the German . In her 6-4, 2-6, 4-6 defeat to world number one Aryna Sabalenka, the clear underdog delivered a close and thrilling match that could have easily gone her way.
"Her style of play is annoying but also very clever. She forces every opponent to work hard," Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. "She pushed me so hard and played an incredible tournament and match."
In the end too many minor errorsSiegemund, who earned £400,000 (approximately €464,000) for her first quarterfinal appearance in London , delivered a tactical masterpiece. With numerous stoppages and heavily undercut slices, the 104th-ranked player repeatedly threw the powerful Belarusian Sabalenka off her rhythm—much to the delight of the spectators.
But toward the end of the 2:54 hour match, stamina and experience in close matches also played a role. The 27-year-old Sabalenka found increasingly better answers and made fewer avoidable errors, while Siegemund, ten years older, made more mistakes. In the deciding set, Siegemund managed a break to make it 4-3, but she couldn't hold on to her lead.
Only Aussem, Graf and Kerber successfulSiegemund would have been only the seventh German player to reach the Wimbledon semifinals. The last German player to reach the Wimbledon semifinals was Angelique Kerber in 2021. She lost to Ashleigh Barty. She had previously won Wimbledon in 2018 .
The only other two Wimbledon winners are Cilly Aussem (1931) and Steffi Graf, who won seven times at London's Church Road (1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996).
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