Jabeur outwits Sabalenka to reach second consecutive Wimbledon final
Sixth seed Ons Jabeur came from a set and break of serve down on Thursday to conquer the second seed Aryna Sabalenka and advance to the final of the women's singles championships at Wimbledon.
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Jabeur, who will play the unseeded Czech Marketa Vondrousova on Saturday afternoon, triumphed 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 after two hours and 19 minutes of enthralling tennis against a doughty opponent who had appeared to be crushing her.
Jabeur had shown she could dish out the wattage during her three-set quarter-final win over Elena Rybakina, the woman who beat her in last year's final.
Sabalenka's groundstrokes punch a similar brutality to Rybakina's. And the 25-year-old Belarusian proved too powerful for Jabeur in the first set set tiebreak which she claimed seven points to five.
And Sabalenka took full control of the match when she broke Jabeur to lead 3-2 in the second set and quickly confirmed the advantage.
Jabeur, though, stuck to the task and managed to work her way back to 4-4. She added two more games to gain parity to the delight of the Centre Court crowd.
In the decider, leading 3-2, Jabeur fashioned the first break point. Sabalenka saved it and then another.
Fight
But trying to fight off the third, she became entangled in Ons ball - countering vicious slices and beguiling spins with more of the same.
Sabalenka fired off a backhand drive which flew long and Jabeur was 4-2 ahead.
Jabeur opened the next game with a sumptuous forehand winner down the line and bookended it with a backhand stroke of similar splendour down the other line to sweep to 5-2.
Sabalenka stayed in the reckoning admirably saving two separate match points with a 10th ace and a serve Jabeur barely touched.
That show of will power switched the pressure back to the Tunisian who clocked up three consecutive match points.
Challenge
Sabalenka saved one via a fortunate net cord and Jabeur fluffed the second with a wild backhand.
A cheeky grin followed her third ace of the match which clinched her place in the 2023 final.
"The old me might have lost the match," Jabeur beamed during her on-court interview. "I'm very glad I kept digging deep and finding the strength."
She will go into Saturday's shown on Centre Court against Vondrousova as favourite.
The 24-year-old Czech displayed greater poise than Elina Svitolina during the 6-3, 6-3 semi-final victory.
From 3-3 in the opening set, she went on a seven-game roll to claim the opener and lead 4-0 in the second set.
But she lost focus and allowed the Ukrainian to recover to 4-3.
However, serving for parity of 4-4, Svitolina failed to resuscitate the player who beat the top seed Iga Swiatek in the quarter-final. And she collapsed again.
"I tried to fight back and just give everything out there even though I didn't play my best," said Svitolina.
"Yeah, it didn't happen. Marketa played great. She was really patient and was playing really great points until the very end."
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