Beatriz Haddad Maia upsets Ons Jabeur to reach French Open semifinals

PARIS: Beatriz Haddad Maia scored another comeback win at the French Open, upsetting Ons Jabeur 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1 on Wednesday to become the first Brazilian woman since 1968 to reach a Grand Slam semifinal. The 14th-seeded Haddad Maia, who in 2019 was provisionally suspended for failing a doping test, shook off a slow start against the seventh-seeded Jabeur on Court Philippe Chatrier and will next face either Iga Swiatek or Coco Gauff. After playing nearly four hours to beat Sara Sorribes Tormo in the fourth round, Haddad Maia won only one of her service games in the first set.

But she saved the only two break points she faced in the second set — both in the 11th game to go up 6-5 — and won the tiebreaker. The 27-year-old Brazilian started the deciding set with a double break and a 3-0 lead. A frustrated Jabeur flipped her racket in the air after sending an easy backhand wide on a break-point opportunity while down 4-1.

Haddad Maia won the game and served out the match. Jabeur was the runner-up at Wimbledon and the US Open last year. Haddad Maia is the first Brazilian woman to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros in the Open era.

Maria Bueno reached the last four at the 1966 French Open and made the 1968 US Open semifinals. Haddad Maia’s fourth-round win over Sorribes Tormo, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-5, was the longest WTA match of the year — clocking in a 3 hours, 51 minutes. The top-seeded Swiatek and sixth-seeded Gauff were up next on Chatrier — a rematch of last year’s French Open final won by Swiatek in straight sets.