NEW YORK — Ons Jabeur reached a second consecutive Grand Slam title match without needing to produce her best tennis Thursday night, taking full advantage of a shaky showing by Caroline Garcia to win their US Open semifinal match 6-1, 6-3.
The No. 5-seeded Jabeur, a 28-year-old from Tunisia, was the runner-up at Wimbledon in July and now will be the first African woman to participate in a final at the US Open in the professional era, which dates to 1968. «After Wimbledon, [there was] a lot of pressure on me,'' Jabeur said following a win that took barely more than an hour, „and I'm really relieved that I can back up my results.'' Jabeur will try to collect her first major championship Saturday when she meets the winner of the semifinal between No.
1 Iga Swiatek of Poland and No. 6 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus. None of the last four players in the women's bracket has ever made it to the final in New York.
With four-time major champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in her guest box — they traded thumbs-up signals at match's end — Jabeur improved to 6-0 in semifinals this season and earned her tour-leading 92nd victory in all since the start of 2021.