- First Arab or North African woman to reach semifinals of a grand slam.
- Tunisian rallies from a set down to beat Marie Bouzková.
- Will face fellow first-time semifinalist Tatjana Maria for place in final.
Ons Jabeur made history on the Wimbledon grass courts on Tuesday; by becoming the first Arab or North African woman to make it all the way to the grand slam semifinals.
The world No. 3 defeated Marie Bouzková on Centre Court; with a score of 3-6 6-1 6-1 after coming back from a set down.
But after making it to the final four; she acknowledged that it had taken a while for her personally.
“For a very long time, I had been wishing that I could reach this point. I had some difficulties; in the quarterfinal, “Jabeur later disclosed to the media.
“Hicham Arazi, a former world No. 22, and I had a brief conversation. He said, “Arabs usually lose in the quarterfinals; and we are sick of it”. Please destroy this. I said, “I’ll try, my friend”.
He was quite thrilled as we were only messaging. Thank you for finally making the semifinals, he said.
You may now really go and obtain the title.”
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Jabeur, who reached the quarterfinals of both the 2020 Australian Open and the 2018 Wimbledon; had to get used to the storied court.
The Tunisian eventually regained her footing after a messy opening set; in which Bouzková’s defence and pace assisted in agitating Jabeur; into making inopportune errors.
The 27-year-old won eight straight games after trailing 2-1 in the second set; hitting more victories than mistakes in the last two sets.
And in the decisive set, she took eight out of nine of the remaining points; to secure a significant victory.
For a position in the final, Jabeur will compete against Tatjana Maria; a fellow first-time competitor.
Just 15 months after giving birth to her second baby; Maria is having her own extraordinary run that has seen her advance to the semifinals.
Outside of tennis, Jabeur and the German are close friends; and Jabeur calls the world No. 103 her “BBQ buddy.”
“It’s wonderful to see her on tour with her children. She deserves to be here since she actually accomplished everything and came back; according to Jabeur. She won over (Jelena) Ostapenko and defeated (Maria) Sakkari; in a pretty difficult draw. She performed excellently, truly. She could play incredibly well on grass, I’m sure.
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