It turned out to be the mother of all battles and Victoria Azarenka produced some telling blows in an electrifying contest but in the end she lacked the chutzpah to defeat Elina Svitolina.
The Belarusian failed to prevent Elina Svitolina from securing a place in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
Sunday’s 2-6 6-4 7-6(11-9) win handed the Ukrainian wildcard a first win over Azarenka in a battle between the last two mums left standing.
According to Reuters, there were six of them who started in the singles draw.
The Ukrainian has now snapped a five-match losing run against the Belarusian 19th seed.
After soaking up all the tension for close to three hours, world number 76 Svitolina finally toppled Azarenka with an ace on her second match-point.
She promptly collapsed onto her back in her moment of triumph.
Svitolina, 28, said she “could not really answer” if she was surprised at the hostile reaction of the British crowd to Azarenka.
Last month at the French Open, Svitolina was booed when she walked off court after not shaking hands with Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka following a quarter-final defeat.
“I feel like each player that loses, and there is no handshake, is getting booed,” Svitolina said.
“I think the tennis organisations have to come out with a statement that there will be no handshake between Russian/Belarusian and Ukrainian players.
“I don’t know if it’s maybe unclear for people.
“I already said multiple times that until Russian troops are out of Ukraine and we take back our territories, not going to shake hands.
“I have clear statement. I don’t know how more clear I can be.”
Svitolina will next face world number one Iga Swiatek for a place in the semi-finals.
