Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic bowed out of the singles competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics with a 6-4, 6-2 loss to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. This loss marked the end of Krejcikova’s singles journey at the Olympics, despite her strong performance on clay courts, including her first Grand Slam singles championship at the French Open in 2021.
Schmiedlova, ranked 67th in the world, has now eliminated both finalists from the Wimbledon tournament, having previously defeated runner-up Jasmine Paolini in the third round. This victory propels her to the semifinals, marking her as the first Slovakian woman to reach this stage at the Summer Games since 1988.
The match was a tough one for Krejcikova, who struggled in the heat and humidity, appearing listless in the later stages. The difference in unforced errors proved to be the deciding factor, with Krejcikova committing 32 compared to Schmiedlova’s 15.
Schmiedlova will now face either Donna Vekic of Croatia or Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in the semifinals, with a place in the gold medal final at stake.
Meanwhile, in the men’s competition, Novak Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam champion, secured his place in the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Dominik Koepfer of Germany. This is Djokovic’s fourth appearance in the Olympics quarterfinals, having previously won a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Djokovic’s next opponent will be Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, creating a rematch of the 2021 French Open final, which Djokovic won after losing the first two sets. The Olympics tennis competition uses a best-of-three-set format for all matches.
In other men’s third-round matches, Tommy Paul of the United States triumphed over Corentin Moutet of France, the last remaining tennis player from the host country in any Olympic event. However, Taylor Fritz of the United States was eliminated from singles competition by Lorenzo Musetti of Italy.
