Wimbledon 2023: Rybakina among 3 Yonex stars in the last eight

London, ENGLAND – Team Yonex has three players in the last eight of the women's singles at Wimbledon with defending champion Elena Rybakina (KAZ), Jessica Pegula (USA) and Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) all advancing into the quarter-finals. 

With Pegula and Vondrousova contesting a Yonex showdown, the Japanese brand is guaranteed to have at least one woman in the semi-finals at the All England Club. 

Rybakina serves notice

Rybakina's powerful serve, which propelled her to a first Grand Slam title on the Wimbledon grass last summer, is now taking the No.3 seed and head-to-toe Yonex ambassador deep into this year's tournament as well.

 

The Kazakh, who was leading 4-1 in her fourth-round match when Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia retired, has been serving up to 120mph, which puts her joint top of the leaderboard. Remarkably, she has won 86 per cent of her first-serve points across her first four matches this fortnight, which is a higher figure than anyone else in the draw. 

 

Green a little greener for Pegula 

If the Wimbledon grass "felt a little greener" for Pegula, that was because the Yonex ambassador has gone further at Wimbledon than ever before. The American No.4 seed, who until this summer had never gone past the third round here, is now into the quarter-finals for the first time after dropping just four games for a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko. Pegula's run created a piece of history as she became only the fifth American woman in the last 25 years to reach the quarter-finals of the four Grand Slams.

A third consecutive Yonex showdown for Vondrousova

Vondrousova's quarter-final with Pegula will be her third consecutive Yonex showdown on the Wimbledon grass. Having beaten fellow Yonex athlete Donna Vekic (CRO) in the third round, she came from a set down to beat another Team Yonex player, Marie Bouzkova (CZE), 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the last 16. Vondrousova, the 2019 Roland-Garros finalist, had only won one match on her four previous visits to the All England Club, but is through to her first quarter-final.