Noskova hopes to emulate Kvitova, who she looked up to as a kid

Linda Noskova is into her first career Wimbledon semifinal, and first Grand Slam semifinal overall, after defeating veteran Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-5 at the All England Club on Wednesday.

Noskova, 21, is the youngest first-time Wimbledon semifinalist since Petra Kvitova, a fellow Czech, reached the final four here in 2010.

For Noskova, who grew up idolizing Kvitova, that holds a great deal of significance.

"We had two matches against each other, actually," Noskova told reporters. "Both of those, I was just kind of stunned that I was on the same court with the Petra Kvitova. As a kid, I was always looking up to her. She was kind of, like, when I didn't really know much about tennis, she was the face of Czech tennis."

Kvitova beat Noskova in the first of those two matches, a resounding 6-3, 6-0 win in Miami in 2023. But a few months later in Cincinnati, Noskova came from a set down to beat the two-time Grand Slam champion 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Those two Grand Slam titles came at Wimbledon, first in 2011 and then again in 2014.

"When she won two Wimbledons, yeah, I was definitely the one that noticed that," Noskova said. "Maybe she helped me to get into tennis a little bit. But for me, she's such a person to look up to."

Noskova, who is currently No. 12 in the PIF WTA Rankings, has had an excellent Grass-Court Swing. She won the title in Berlin last month, and has now won 10 of her last 11 WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz matches.

Marta Kostyuk, her semifinal opponent, has been even more dominant of late, winning 21 of her last 22 matches dating back to April.

Kostyuk beat Noskova 7-6 (1), 6-0 in Madrid in April, on clay. This will be their first match on grass.

Both players are in pursuit of their first Grand Slam title.

Like Kvitova, Noskova is hoping her first one comes at Wimbledon.

"I would love to follow her in her footsteps," Noskova said. "If the outcome's going to be the same, I would love nothing more."