No. 6 seed Ons Jabeur came back to defeat No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 in the second women’s singles semifinal at Wimbledon on Thursday. Here’s what you need to know:
- Jabeur crucially broke Sabalenka while down 4-3 in the second set, then held serve to go up 5-4 and got another break to win the second set. Sabalenka struggled to get near Jabeur’s serve, breaking her once in the match and only having three break points across the three sets.
- The 28-year-old Tunisian Jabeur is the first woman to reach back-to-back Wimbledon finals since Serena Williams in 2019.
- Jabeur will meet Marketa Vondrousova in Saturday’s final. The unseeded Vondrousova will be making her Wimbledon championship debut after defeating Elina Svitolina earlier Thursday.
Backstory
At Wimbledon last year, Jabeur became the first African and Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam final in the Open Era. She now has 28 wins on grass courts since the start of 2021, more than any other women’s player.
The Belarussian Sabalenka — who did not play at Wimbledon last year due to the ban on Russian and Belarussian players — is the only woman to reach at least the semifinals of the past four Grand Slams.
Had the 25-year-old won Thursday, she would have overtaken Iga Swiatek as the No. 1-ranked player in the…
