Wimbledon: Tunisia’s Jabeur to face Vondrousova in female final

World number six Jabeur came back from a set down to overpower Belarussian tennis star, Aryna Sabalenka to reach the Wimbledon final for the second time in a row.

The Tunisian had formed a habit of a comeback after losing her first set, doing it three times already in the tournament.

Czech republic’s  Vondrousova ended Elina Svitolina’s dream of delivering a Grand Slam title for Ukraine with a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win, becoming the first unseeded woman to make the final in 60 years.

Had Sabalenka gone on to win the title on Saturday, she would have received the trophy from Princess Catherine, the wife of the heir to the British throne, a year after all Belarusian and Russian players were banned from the tournament following the invasion of Ukraine.

If she had reached the final, Svitolina would have maintained her policy of not shaking hands with Russian and Belarusian rivals in protest at the war.

 

However, Jabuer reacted to her victory, saying that her old time self would have lost a game of that magnitude after losing the first set

“I’m very proud of myself because maybe old me would have lost the match today and went back home already but I’m glad that I kept digging deep and finding the strength,” she said.

Saturday’s final will be her third at the Slams after losing to Elena Rybakina at Wimbledon and Iga Swiatek at the US Open last year.

Sabalenka, 25, playing in her fourth successive Grand Slam semi-final and sixth in total, recovered from 2/4 down in the tiebreak to clinch the first set.

She also unleashed the fastest women’s serve at Wimbledon this year with a 121 mph (194.7 km/h) rocket.

Sabalenka, who had defeated Jabeur on her way to the last four at Wimbledon in 2021, broke for a 3-2 lead in the second set.

That stretched to 4-2 before Jabeur hit back from the brink to reel off the next four games and level the contest.