Croatia's Donna Vekic was defeated by Italy's Jasmine Paolini in the women's semi-finals at Wimbledon on Thursday. It was officially the longest women's semi-final in the history of this tennis tournament.

After two hours and 51 minutes, the result of the Vekic-Paolini match was 6-2, 4-6, 6-6 (8-10).

Vekić, a 28-year-old from Osijek, reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career. She defeated New Zealand qualifier Lulu Sun 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 in two hours and six minutes in the quarter-finals of this year’s Wimbledon on Tuesday.

Vekic is the third Croatian tennis player to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament, after Iva Majoli at the French Open in 1997, which Majoli won, and Mirjana Lucic, who reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 1999 and the Australian Open in 2017.