LONDON (Agencies): Defending champion Elena Rybakina lost in the Wimbledon quarter-finals as Ons Jabeur avenged her defeat in last year’s final.
In a reverse of the match 12 months ago, sixth seed Jabeur came from a set down to win 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-1. The Tunisian sixth seed clinched the second set with a timely break of serve at 5-4 and then dominated the decider.
Jabeur will play Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals on Thursday after she powered past Madison Keys. Belarusian second seed Sabalenka beat the American 6-2 6-4 – keeping alive her quest to win a first Wimbledon title and replace Iga Swiatek as world number one.
Rybakina’s exit means there is guaranteed to be a first-time women’s singles champion this year. Jabeur was far more aggressive than she was last year against a player known for her powerful shot-making, with the Tunisian hitting 35 winners to Rybakina’s 21.
“I said I am going for my shots because if you try to go easy with her it is not going to work,” Jabeur said. “It is not easy playing her but I wish we could exchange this match for the finals last year.” Rybakina had only lost her serve once in the entire tournament before the quarter-final but the Kazakh was put under constant pressure by Jabeur.
Jabeur broke twice in the first set before losing it on a tie-break, twice more in the decider and, crucially, once in the second. With the second set in the balance, Jabeur hit a fine backhand return winner to start the game and then forced Rybakina to twice push backhands into the tramlines.
That game levelled the match and was the second in a run of five games in a row for the Tunisian – games which ultimately decided the contest. Rybakina threatened to overturn Jabeur’s 3-1 lead in the third but, helped by two tight challenges, Jabeur fought off danger before closing out the win to set up the meeting with Sabalenka.
“I saw she won very quick which I wasn’t happy with,” Jabeur said of Sabalenka. “She is an amazing player. She hits very fast like Elena so it will be very challenging. “It will be a difficult match but I will keep this spirit on the court and hopefully the crowd will be with me.”
‘Different player’ Sabalenka into second Wimbledon semi
Second seed Sabalenka will be making her fourth successive Grand Slam semi-final when she faces Jabeur on Thursday. The Belarusian won the Australian Open in January and will go to the top of the world rankings if she reaches Saturday’s final.
She was only briefly threatened by Keys when, after storming through the first set, she trailed 4-2 in the second, but the challenge seemingly made her find yet another gear in her already high level.
She broke back twice and served out victory, sealing it on her second match point with an emphatic serve that 25th seed Keys could only send long. Sabalenka will be playing in her second Wimbledon semi-final after a three-set loss to Czech Karolina Pliskova two years ago and she says her game has developed since then.
“I can’t wait to play my second semi-final and hopefully I can do better,” she said in her on-court interview. “Since that semi-final I changed a lot. I did a lot of work and think I am a different player now.”
Sabalenka was unable to play at last year’s grass-court Grand Slam at the All England Club because of the ban on Russians and Belarusians following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But she has returned with a hunger to lift a trophy she has dreamed of winning since she was a child and wasted no time in taking charge against 28-year-old Keys, who won the Eastbourne title last month.
She broke in the opening game and faced only one break point in the first set, which came when she was serving for the set and which she fended off, before sealing the opener with an unreturnable, booming serve.
The sheer effort she puts in to get the power on her groundstrokes is audible every time she hits the ball and those decibels rose even more with the roar that she unleashed after turning around the second set by winning 12 points in a row from being 4-2 down with Keys serving at 40-0.
She failed to convert her first match point when a net cord bounced the wrong way for her but made no mistake on the second as she moved a step closer to a second major singles title. “Since I was little I was dreaming about the Wimbledon title, it is something special,” she said. “Wimbledon is different, it’s more special.”
