Revenge for Finale 2022
Jabeur throws out Wimbledon champion
07/13/2023 12:46 am
Ons Jabeur would have preferred to win the Wimbeldon final against Jelena Rybakina last year, now she’s getting her revenge in this year’s quarter-finals. On her way to becoming the first tennis player from the African continent to win a Grand Slam title, a “difficult match” awaits her in the semifinals.
Ons Jabeur can keep dreaming. Dreaming of being the first female tennis player from the African continent to win a Grand Slam. In Wimbledon, the Tunisian made a big step forward. In a repeat of the 2022 final, she defeated defending champion Jelena Rybakina from Kazakhstan 6: 7 (5: 7), 6: 4, 6: 1, and in the round of four she will meet world number two Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus on Thursday.
Of course, Jabeur would have preferred to win last year’s match against Rybakina, especially since she also lost the final of the US Open afterwards. “I wish,” she said in the presence of Queen Camilla on Center Court, “I could swap this match for last year’s.” She has no illusions about the duel with Sabalenka, who clearly dominated in her semifinals 6-2, 6-4 against Madison Keys from the USA: “It will be a very difficult match.”
Trained together beforehand
Men have already won Grand Slam titles for Africa. Jaroslav Drobny, born in Prague in 1921, won the French Open in 1951 and 1952 and Wimbledon in 1954 as an Egyptian citizen. The South African Johan Kriek won in January 1982 the Australian Open which started in December and in December 1982 also the following edition. Jabeur is in her third semi-final at a Grand Slam. The second duel will be contested by Elena Switolina from the Ukraine and Marketa Vondrousova from the Czech Republic.
Sabalenka has also been warned. “We trained before Wimbledon,” she said of Jabeur, “and I had a feeling she would play well here because she was amazing on the training ground. She has that level in the matches too.” Of course, Sabalenka is also in great shape, as not only her match against Keys clearly showed: After all, the 25-year-old is now in the semifinals of the fourth Grand Slam in a row. Last year she was excluded from participating in Wimbledon.
Sabalenka only wobbled once in her quarter-finals: The 28-year-old Keys, US Open finalist in 2017 and number 18 in the world rankings, had a great opportunity in the second set to make the match more open again: after a break to make it 4-2 she played three balls to make it 5:2, but then gave up her serve. After 1:27 hours, Sabalenka used her second match point.