Elina Svitolina claimed the mother of all victories by knocking out world number one Iga Swiatek to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals.

The unseeded Ukrainian, who only gave birth to her daughter Skai nine months ago, ousted top seed Swiatek with a dramatic 7-5 6-7 (5) 6-2 victory on Centre Court.

Swiatek, just as she had in her previous match against Belinda Bencic, came from a set down to draw level and seemed to have snatched the momentum.

But with Jeremy Clarkson watching from the crowd, Svitolina found top gear just when she needed it to secure a famous victory.

“I don’t know what is happening right now, it’s really unbelievable,” Svitolina, also a semi-finalist here in 2019, said.

“I’m really, really happy that I got this chance to play here again. I was fighting, it was not easy. Iga is world number one and always fighting. It was an unbelievable match and I’m really happy I could win this one.”

Swiatek looked dialled in from the start this time, breaking the Svitolina serve in the opening game.

But as she served for the set, the 22-year-old from Warsaw gifted Svitolina a break back to love with an uncharacteristically sloppy game, topped off with a double-fault.

Swiatek was rattled and Svitolina began finding her range, punishing a second serve to bring up two set points and edging in front when Swiatek’s backhand floated long.

A slight delay as the roof was closed gave Swiatek a chance to regroup but a hold to love at the start of the second set meant Svitolina had won 10 of the previous 12 points.

However, nerves started to kick in when, at 40-0, Svitolina missed the simplest of volleys at the net and then double-faulted, allowing Swiatek to break.

Swiatek then got a dose of the jitters herself, a double-fault giving Svitolina two break points and a long forehand levelling the set at 3-3.

Svitolina dug out a second ace of the match to go 4-1 ahead in the tie-break but Swiatek reeled her back in with a couple of rasping forehands which clipped the line and an exquisite backhand winner.

But Svitolina came again, breaking the reigning French and US Open champion twice to lead 4-1 in the decider.

Two more aces made it 5-1 and despite some late resistance from the Pole Svitolina came through, covering her mouth with her hand in utter shock when Swiatek hit the net on match point.

Swiatek has been a huge supporter of the Ukrainian cause following the Russian invasion and wears a blue and yellow ribbon in her cap.

Svitolina, whose emotional win over Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the fourth round was one of the matches of the tournament, added: “Iga is not only a great champion but an unbelievable person.

“She was one of the first who really helped the Ukrainian people, she was a huge help. So for sure it’s not easy to play someone that you share a lot of good moments. Not easy for her either but I’m really proud I could win this one.”

Pello Bilbao took his first career Tour de France stage win from a breakaway in Issoire and dedicated the victory to his late team-mate Gino Mader.

Bilbao beat Georg Zimmermann to the line as six riders made it to the finish to contest the stage win, sparking emotional scenes as he and his Bahrain Victorious team remembered Mader, who died aged 26 following a high-speed crash at the Tour de Suisse last month.

The main peloton came to the line a little under three minutes later with Jonas Vingegaard retaining the yellow jersey and his 17-second advantage over Tadej Pogacar, but Bilbao’s win saw him move up to fifth overall.

Following Mader’s death, Bilbao had pledged to replicate the Swiss rider’s charitable gesture – donating one euro to environmental causes for every rider he finishes ahead of on each stage, also promising to double the donation if he won the stage.

And in his podium interview, the Basque rider said the memory of Mader was “the only reason” for his win.

He said: “It was hard to prepare the last two weeks with him in mind, but staying with my family at home helped me a lot, just to keep calm, be positive and put all my positive energy to try to do something nice in the Tour.

“I wanted to do it in the first Basque stages, that was so special for me but it was not possible so I just waited for my moment. I was maybe thinking my position in the overall was going to be a problem but I decided to make an all-in move and in the end it was the right movement.

“My first victory in the Tour in 13 years as a pro is such a special moment for me.”

The 167km stage from Vulcania through the Massif Central looked custom-designed for a breakaway, but things were never so simple on a day when the attacks raged from the start to the finish.

Vingegaard and Pogacar were both involved in some of the early moves, splitting the main peloton, before 14 riders eventually got away.

But it was only occasionally a cohesive group. Krists Neilands launched an attack at the foot of the final climb and crested it with an advantage of 30 seconds, but that tumbled on the descent towards town and he was caught by a chasing group of five with three kilometres left.

Bilbao felt confident he was the fastest and let Zimmerman move to the front before launching his sprint with a couple of hundred metres left.

“With cold blood I let Zimmermann make his sprint and I went on the wheel, then it was just full gas for the last 200 metres thinking of nothing,” he said.

“I crossed the line and I just put out all the energy inside of me and remembered the reason for this victory, a special one – for Gino.”

Two appeals concerning the finish of the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh have both been dismissed by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board.

The Group One contest produced a messy conclusion as the George Boughey-trained winner Via Sistina drifted across the track in the final furlong, impeding the placed horses in winning by two lengths under Jamie Spencer.

Ben and Sir Martyn Arbib, who own Hughie Morrison’s second-placed Stay Alert, appealed against the raceday stewards’ decision not to revise the placings, but the IHRB dismissed that claim.

Spencer was given a six-day ban for his ride, with the jockey asking the IHRB appeals panel to reconsider the severity of the suspension.

However, that was also dismissed with Spencer ruled out on July 15, 17-20 and 22.

The suspension means he misses the ride aboard Khaadem in Saturday’s July Cup, with Rob Hornby booked to ride the 80-1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes winner at Newmarket instead.

Home favourites Richie Ramsay and Robert MacIntyre are relishing the chance to make immediate amends for a missed opportunity in a star-studded Genesis Scottish Open.

The Scottish pair were both in contention to win in Denmark last week, with Ramsay finishing a shot outside the eventual play-off after hitting his approach to the last into the water and making a double bogey.

MacIntyre held a two-shot lead at the turn but ran up a triple-bogey seven on the 13th after failing to move his second shot from waist-high rough and then having to take a penalty drop.

But after sharing a car to the airport on Sunday evening, MacIntyre and Ramsay were also singing from the same hymn-sheet in terms of focusing on the positives ahead of a £7million event on home soil which boasts eight of the world’s top 10.

“The past week was probably the best golf I’ve played in a long, long time,” MacIntyre said at the Renaissance Club.

“I had so much control of the golf ball. For 71 holes I was in absolute cruise control. When I sit back and look at it, for the first 12 holes (on Sunday) I played golf perfectly. I didn’t put a foot wrong.

“On 13 I hit a good shot, flushed it, but just pulled it 10 yards. My natural shape is a draw and with the wind off the left, it was curving the wrong direction.

“But my head’s in a good place. I feel like you’ve got to take a couple of punches before you can hold a trophy. OK we had such a good chance to win, but it was all preparation for these two weeks.

“I shared a car with Richie going to the airport on Sunday night and he was on the phone speaking to his family and friends, I was getting phone calls from my manager and I was hanging up.

“I wasn’t speaking to anybody, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. Richie has been out here a lot longer than me. He was a bit calm and chatting away. Once he was on the phone calls, I sat in a huff in the front seat.

“I was sitting there in absolute silence thinking to myself, ‘What just went wrong? Why has it went wrong?’… But I’m here now and last week is last week.

“Once I spoke to people they just assured me that’s not going to be the last hiccup I’m going to have on the journey. It’s going to happen again. But if you keep putting yourself in positions like Kenya, Korea, last week, I can’t not lift a trophy at some point.

“I was one step shy last week and what better time to correct the wrong than one of these next two (Scottish Open or Open Championship)?”

Ramsay, who also double-bogeyed the 72nd hole of last year’s British Masters at The Belfry when needing a par to claim the clubhouse lead, promised to keep “shooting for the stars” when in contention.

“It hurt to lose,” Ramsay said. “Ever since I was a little kid I hate losing but it’s part and parcel of the journey these days and only makes you stronger and more determined to get a win.

“I spoke to my brother this morning and he said you’d have a problem if you weren’t putting yourself in that position and I took that on board and realised that the problem is not that I hit a bad shot at the wrong time, the problem would be if I wasn’t putting myself in that position.

“I mean, I was annoyed I didn’t win but for me, I didn’t do anything wrong. The shot I hit at The Belfry was because I was indecisive. I didn’t make a clear decision and that’s on me.

“That’s why it hurt a lot more but on this one last week, my viewpoint is that you’ve got to hit a great shot down the stretch to win a tournament.

“There’s an opportunity here. If you don’t take it, you’re going to regret it. I don’t regret taking it, because if I pulled it off, I feel that I left myself in a good position to get up and down or two-putt, and you win a tournament.

“You kind of shoot for the stars and I will hit one of those stars again sooner or later.”

Daniel Ricciardo will make a shock return to Formula One at the Hungarian Grand Prix a week on Sunday.

The eight-time grand prix winner, who was axed by McLaren at the end of last year, will replace Nyck de Vries at Red Bull’s junior team AlphaTauri for the rest of the year.

Rookie De Vries was hired by AlphaTauri at the beginning of this season but he has been dropped after only 10 races, paving the way for Ricciardo’s sudden comeback.

The 34-year-old Ricciardo’s career looked to be all but over after he was deemed surplus to requirements by McLaren following two underwhelming seasons with the British team.

Ricciardo failed to land a seat for the 2023 campaign and instead elected to return to Red Bull – the team at which he won seven grands prix – as a reserve driver.

Ricciardo got his first taste of this season’s Red Bull during a tyre test at Silverstone on Tuesday – 48 hours after the British Grand Prix in which De Vries finished 17th and last.

Given Sergio Perez’s torrid run of form, which has seen him fall 99 points adrift of team-mate Max Verstappen in the world championship, AlphaTauri’s move to hire Ricciardo will fuel speculation that the Australian could land a seat back at Red Bull.

“I’m stoked to be back on track with the Red Bull family,” said Ricciardo.

AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost said: “I’m very pleased to welcome Daniel back into the team.

“There’s no doubt about his driving skill, and he already knows many of us, so his integration will be easy and straightforward.

“The team will also profit a lot from his experience, as he is an eight-time Formula One grand prix winner.

“I would like to thank Nyck for his valuable contribution during his time with Scuderia AlphaTauri, and I wish him all the best for the future.”

Ricciardo started his F1 career with HRT Racing in 2011 before he joined AlphaTauri, then called Toro Rosso, in 2012. Ricciardo was promoted to Red Bull two years later – winning three times and out-scoring four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.

The Australian took a surprise decision to join Renault in 2019, but after two years with the French team – claiming two podium finishes – he switched to McLaren. However, bar victory at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, Ricciardo underperformed and was replaced by countryman Oscar Piastri.

However, Ricciardo has been at a number of races this season and is regarded as one of the grid’s most popular drivers, particularly in America where the sport is booming thanks to the success of Netflix’s Drive to Survive series.

For De Vries, 28, the writing appeared to be on the wall after ruthless Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko recently said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was right to have questioned why he was signed.

The Dutch driver crashed on multiple occasions and failed to score a single point with a best finish of 12th at the Monaco Grand Prix in May.

World number four Jessica Pegula crashed out of Wimbledon after an untimely suspension of play helped shift the momentum in her surprise quarter-final defeat to Marketa Vondrousova.

The American looked poised to progress to the maiden grand slam singles semi-final of her career having overturned a one-set deficit to lead 3-1 in the decider.

But, due to forecasted rain, the contest was halted for around 23 minutes to allow the roof on Court One to be closed and 2019 French Open finalist Vondrousova returned to win five of the next six games to progress 6-4 2-6 6-4.

The Czech world number 42, who is enjoying her best run at the All England Club, will take on either world number one Iga Swiatek or Elina Svitolina for a place in the final.

“I don’t know what happened,” she said. “It’s an amazing feeling, I cannot believe it.”

Asked how much closing the roof helped her, she replied: “A lot actually. I never played on court number one under the roof. It’s amazing.

“I just wanted to stay as long as I could and I fought until the end. She was pushing me to the edge so I am just so proud of my game.”

Ons Jabeur has vowed to stick to her plan as she targets Wimbledon revenge over Elena Rybakina.

The pair meet in the quarter-final on Wednesday in a rematch of last year’s final where Jabeur’s heart was broken by a three-set defeat.

The Tunisian has come back 12 months later and looked every inch a possible champion as she has coasted into the last eight.

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She knows this is a step up in quality and accepts she will have to do things she does not enjoy against Rybakina.

The sixth seed said: “My priority is really to stick 100 per cent to the plan that my coach will give me, and try to even do things that I might not like on the court, play more freely, just think about each point and not the results.

“I think you have a plan tactically, mentally also. Sometimes playing someone like Elena, who serves really well, it can be frustrating.

“Me, I would get angry, but I’ll try to accept the fact that she serves so good and try to return good and see what I can do there.”

Jabeur admits that it took her a couple of weeks to get over last year’s final but takes a holistic view of the defeat.

“I think the first one or two weeks I thought about it a lot,” she said.

“It was very painful. The good thing about it is I know I gave it everything.

“I’m someone that believes that it wasn’t meant to be, so I cannot force it more than it should be.

“I’m glad that I have this belief. I believe in destiny. It wasn’t supposed to be that year.

“Maybe greater things are coming after that final. I definitely will learn a lot from it.

“Obviously the next match is completely different. It’s a quarter-final. It’s a completely different position. I’m going to do my best.

“The most important thing is that I give 100 per cent and I try not to regret anything.”

Rybakina has barely broken sweat on her way to the last eight, though did admit she felt nervous at the start of the competition.

She is now through that and wants to continue in calmer waters.

“Now I’m feeling much better and more confident coming and playing on Centre Court,” she said. “It is different from the first round.

“I think it was just overall the atmosphere and the nerves to play the first match to get used to the grass, just to play some matches here.

“I think now mentally I’m much better. Physically also good now. Yeah, hopefully I just continue like this.”

Johanna Konta admits to finding motherhood boring compared to her previous life but said she is “very committed to retirement”.

Caroline Wozniacki is the latest player to announce a return to the sport after retiring and starting a family but Konta insists that is not a path she will be taking.

The 32-year-old announced in December 2021 that she was calling time on her career and she gave birth to daughter Emmeline last September.

She has picked up a racket again to play in the invitational doubles at Wimbledon, where Wozniacki is also in the field, and was very open about the challenges of swapping a professional sporting career for changing nappies.

“A part of me will always miss it just because the kind of adrenaline and the life you live as a successful professional tennis player, you can’t replicate in any part of your life,” said Konta.

“Compared to that, motherhood is frankly quite boring. It’s very monotonous and it’s fundamentally not really enjoyable, for me anyway.

“I love my daughter. When I put her down for naps I get excited for when she’s going to wake up. I’m to the moon in love with my daughter but I think the act of motherhood is actually really tough.

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“It’s monotonous, boring and, compared to what I used to do, which is play on Centre Court and travel the world and live a really selfish existence, to then be thrown into a very selfless existence, it’s a really hard transition, and it’s not fun.

“But I would choose it every single day over playing on Centre Court. I really love what my life was but I am learning to love my life more now.”

Konta has not even been playing tennis socially and described her first day back on court at Wimbledon as “rusty and painful”.

“The first day I was so sore everywhere but the last few days it’s been fine,” she added. “Don’t ask me to move a lot, though. That’s not what it used to be. I’m very committed to retirement.”

While Konta’s retirement was initially overshadowed by Emma Raducanu winning the US Open, the latter’s struggles have thrown into focus what a stellar career her predecessor as British number one put together.

Konta reached three grand slam semi-finals and three more quarter-finals while reaching a high of fourth in the world rankings in 2017.

By contrast, Britain did not have a direct entrant in the women’s singles here or at the French Open and current leading woman Katie Boulter is ranked 89.

“You want British interest,” said Konta, who is carving out a new career in broadcasting.

“You guys want British interest in the second week of grand slams, the players who are playing want to be in the second week. Everyone has the same desire, and also it’s good for the kids back home to see British representation on the female side.

“Everyone’s working towards the same goal, everyone’s giving their best and hopefully it will be happening.”

Raducanu is now down at 132 in the rankings and is unlikely to return until the autumn following surgeries on her wrists and ankle, but she still appears the best British hope of a leading player in the near future.

Konta highlighted fitness as the key to whether Raducanu can return to the top 10, saying: “I think just consistent physical health, for her to get physically robust is probably the number one priority because that has been her biggest hurdle.

“For her to be able to play enough tournaments, enough matches, will give her then the chance to win.”

The opening race on Wolverhampton’s Tuesday card was voided after Dane O’Neill took a fall from Eagle Eyed Tom.

The gelding, who is trained by Charlie Hills, seemed to stumble and clip heels when leaving the stalls for the Sky Sports Racing Sky 415 Handicap and unseated O’Neill in the first few moments of the contest.

The race was stopped abruptly before it could be completed and O’Neill was attended to on the track before reportedly being taken off on a stretcher.

Milton Harris is hatching an audacious plan to get Scriptwriter rated highly enough for a tilt at the Melbourne Cup.

The two-mile ‘race that stops a nation’, which will be run at Flemington on November 7, is the richest handicap run anywhere in the world and was worth over £2.5million to connections of Gold Trip, who won it last year.

There there is always fierce competition for a place in the line-up which has a maximum of 24 runners.

But Warminster handler Harris is hopeful the former Aidan O’Brien-trained gelding will show his ability throughout the summer on the Flat, starting with Saturday’s Group Three John Smith’s Silver Cup Stakes at York.

“He’s a Group horse, we’ve always thought that,” said Harris. “I’m going to tempt fate. He’s going to run on Saturday at York, I think. The main target has always been the Ebor at York.”

The Ebor victor will be given an automatic entry for the Melbourne Cup, with the York contest the only international win-and-you-are-in race.

Scriptwriter proved himself among the top young hurdlers last season, winning the Grade Two Triumph Trial Juvenile Hurdle Trial at Cheltenham in November.

He also landed a decent all-weather handicap on the Flat at Wolverhampton before being touched off in the Finesse Hurdle back at Cheltenham.

Scriptwriter was seventh to runaway winner Vauban in the Copper Horse Handicap at Royal Ascot on his return to action last month and while his official Flat rating is 103, he will need to improve if he is to have a chance of going to Australia.

Harris added: “I thought he ran well at Ascot from a bad draw, but just couldn’t win.

“So we are going to York on Saturday and then hopefully the Ebor. If those two races go well, we might have a go at the Melbourne Cup – if you don’t dream, you’ll never have one come to fruition, will you?”

Royal Ascot scorer Porta Fortuna could be tasked with taking on the colts following her impressive triumph at the summer showpiece last month.

The daughter of Caravaggio provided Frankie Dettori with his 80th winner at the Royal meeting when storming to Albany Stakes success and the form of that victory was given an immediate boost when the runner-up Matrika won the Group Two Airlie Stud Stakes only eight days later.

Having now struck twice at Group Three level in her three appearances to date, trainer Donnacha O’Brien is keen to keep his unbeaten filly at six furlongs for the time being and she could get the chance to showcase her talent in Group One company if lining up in the Curragh’s Keeneland Phoenix Stakes on August 12.

O’Brien said: “She’s very good and has come out of the race well. We gave her an easy week after the race to freshen her up and she’s back in full work now and everything is going well.

“She’s very straightforward and I suppose she’s a dream filly to ride as she has plenty of pace, travels well, has a turn of foot and also keeps going at the end as well. She’s just a very smart filly.

“We’re thinking of going for the Phoenix at the minute, the Group One at the Curragh. We’ll have to take on colts, but we’d like to give her another run at six. We’ll put her in the Lowther (York, August 24) as well as a back-up, that’s about a week or two afterwards.”

Connections then hope all roads will lead to the Breeders’ Cup, where Porta Fortuna’s American owners will have the opportunity to cheer on their filly in their own backyard.

“I suppose later on in the year the targets will be races like the Cheveley Park (Newmarket, September 30) and the Breeders’ Cup,” added O’Brien.

“We’ve got a few more runs to go before we get there so I’m sure we’ll learn a bit more about her by the time, but the obvious one would be the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf (Santa Anita, November 3) unless for some reason we thought we would go back in trip to the (Juvenile Turf) Sprint.

“The Breeders’ Cup was always the main aim for her at the end of the year, but she’s got a few races to go first and we’ll take each one at a time.”

Porta Fortuna is not the only filly at O’Brien’s Tipperary base with the potential to become a high-ranking two-year-old and the handler also has lofty ambitions for the Niarchos family-owned Mysteries who opened her account in good style at Cork.

“She’s a lovely filly and one we’ve always thought plenty of,” continued the Group One-winning trainer.

“The plan at the minute is to go for the Silver Flash Stakes at Leopardstown (July 27) and then for a seven-furlong filly there’s a very obvious programme, so it will be there, the Debutante (August 19) and the Moyglare (September 10), all being well.”

Meanwhile, one-time Derby hope Alder is on the comeback trail from the setback which ruled him out of Classic action and could return at Dundalk in the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Diamond Stakes on September 29 before getting his passport stamped at the back-end of the year.

“He’s good and we gave him a bit of a break but he’s back in work now,” said O’Brien.

“I’m provisionally aiming him at a Listed race in Dundalk in September and then all being well, we could potentially go travelling with him after that.”

Chris Eubanks has the potential to be a worldwide star after his breakthrough at Wimbledon, according to former American number one James Blake.

The 27–year-old had never made it past the second round at a grand slam until his amazing run in SW19, where he has knocked out last year’s semi-finalist Cameron Norrie and fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas on his way to a quarter-final against Daniil Medvedev.

Although the American – who won his first ATP Tour title in Majorca before Wimbledon – has been on tour for some time, his profile has exploded in the United States.

And Blake, who reached a career-high of fourth in the world rankings, has backed him to compete at the very top of the men’s game.

“He has become a superstar back home, which is great to see because he just deserves it, he is the most genuine guy,” said Blake.

“He’s taken advantage of his huge moment, he played so well last week in Majorca and now just playing with that confidence he is going to go far and I do think he has a chance against Medvedev.

“He is playing free and loose and you can see what can happen when you have got a big game and play with a lot of confidence.

“He has got to be a contender now to become a worldwide star, he has got the personality for it.”

Eubanks’ run at Wimbledon means he will now get star billing at the US Open next month and Blake has backed him to embrace it.

“It is going to be new for him but he is going to be one of the stars there, he might be on the side of a bus, he might be up on billboards,” said Blake, who mentored Eubanks earlier on in his career.

“And for him a year ago to be playing Challengers in Korea and toiling away, to be a star in New York is going to be hopefully a life-changing experience for him in a positive way.

“I hope he enjoys being a superstar because that is what he is in the making.”

Kim Clijsters has also played a role in Eubanks’ development after giving him some advice.

“It’s all his credit, I didn’t do anything, just send a few text messages,” she said.

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“We’ve gotten to know each other well since we played World Team Tennis together.

“He’s a great guy, a very open mind. We had really long conversations talking about my experiences in tennis when I was a teenager to still being around now.

“He wants to learn. It’s just great to see he’s doing so well. He’s enjoying it.