Post by Admin on Jul 6, 2016 1:42:01 GMT
Elena Vesnina ran away in a 6-2, 6-2 romp over 19th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova on Tuesday at Wimbledon to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal, then confirmed that she was just as stunned as anyone else to see herself in the final four.
“I am very surprised,” Vesnina said, beaming. “It was like a dream came true. I’m always thinking I can do well in the Grand Slams. I had some good wins. I was close to be in the quarterfinal couple times, but it was not good enough. I was just waiting and waiting for this happen. But, of course, semifinal is a big surprise for me.”
Vesnina, who turns 30 next month, grew up in Sochi, Russia, playing alongside Maria Sharapova, who won the title here at age 17. Vesnina was a highly regarded young prospect — Justine Henin once declared that she would be a top-five player after playing her at the 2007 French Open — but her singles career fell short of expectations. After reaching a career-best ranking of 21 in 2013, she plummeted last year and fell out of the top 120 this year after losing in Australian Open qualifying.
“Yeah, of course, everybody had this kind of time when you’re down and you’re thinking that it’s over,” Vesnina said. “You’re never going to be there, and you’re watching tennis on the TV, how everybody’s winning and playing semifinals, finals of the Grand Slams.”
She added: “But I’m a very positive person. I’m never getting down too much on myself. I know that there is a life besides tennis. So I’m really trying to be fast to forgive all the losses, just to forget it, just move forward.”