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The second turn between Ons Jabeur and Elena Rybakina at Wimbledon went the Tunisian’s way on Wednesday. In their quarter-final, the sixth seed fought from down a set to get past the third seed and 2022 champion, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-1.
The 28-year-old completed the match in an hour and 53 minutes. Rybakina stormed through Jabeur’s defences in the first set and was the first to go up a break in the proceedings, in the fourth game. However, her own serve let her down and she was broken to love in the fifth game.
In the 11th game of the set, Jabeur broke Rybakina with a chance to serve for the set but this time, as she served for the set, it was her turn to get broken right away. In the tie-break, Rybakina brought up three set points for herself but her opponent saved two before the Kazakh converted the third.
Jabeur’s level picked up across the latter two sets even as Rybakina’s dropped. The higher-ranked opponent struggled with every aspect of her game but her serve. Time and again, she relied on her serve to extricate herself even as Jabeur’s confidence grew even as she racked winner after another.
In the second set, Rybakina held on right till the 10th game. In that game, while trying to stay in the set, she was broken to 15 which allowed Jabeur right back into the match. Thereafter, Rybakina’s game unravelled completely in the deciding set.
The world no. 6 broke Rybakina’s serve in the second game of the set and despite the latter’s attempts to make a breakthrough, didn’t lose a grip on her own serve. A second break of Rybakina’s serve in the sixth game gave Jabeur the opportunity to serve for the match.
She did so convincingly, converting the win on her first match point.
Wimbledon: Ons Jabeur vs Aryna Sabalenka, the final before the finale
In the semi-final, Jabeur will play second seed Aryna Sabalenka. The world no. 2 was too good in her match against 25th seed Madison Keys, clinching a 6-2, 6-4 victory after 87 minutes.
Sabalenka’s game overpowered the American. The latter was also unable to win points behind her second serve. For the match, Keys finished with just seven points out of 19 played on her second serve. In the second set, Keys did get a break and lead Sabalenka 4-2 but she handed the break right back and the latter never looked back in the match.
For both Ons Jabeur and Aryna Sabalenka, this is the second time in their careers they’ve reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon. Jabeur’s there for the second year in a row. Sabalenka reached the semi-finals of the 2021 edition, losing to eventual finalist, Karolina Pliskova. Photo Credit: WTA Twitter