‘I want the title’: Ons Jabeur embraces Wimbledon favourite tag after win

During the first week of Wimbledon Ons Jabeur had to carry the weight of her continent on her back. Now the 27-year-old Tunisian faces the added burden of being the new Wimbledon favourite. But the way she survived five set points before defeating Elise Mertens 7-6 (9), 6-4 in a thriller suggests she has the verve – and nerve – to make history.

It was nervy at times already, especially during the first set. But that was understandable. On the surface this match was for a place in the quarter-finals. But both women understood that it was for far more.

The bottom half of the draw is so weak – weaker, in fact, than the former US Open champion Tracy Austin can ever remember at this stage – that they knew that a victory here would put one arm into Saturday’s final.

How could it not when the three remaining players in the bottom half – Marie Bouzkova, Jule Niemeier and Tatjana Maria – are all unseeded? And between them they have a combined ranking of 266? No wonder Jabeur now senses an enormous opportunity. “I have set my goals very high for this tournament, so I’m going to keep doing that,” she said. “No matter who’s coming, I’m going to build the fight, I’m going to fight till the end because I really want the title.”

At the US Open last year Mertens had triumphed in two tight sets. This time round Jabeur’s flashier game paid off. But it was a close‑run thing. After three breaks of serve in the first three games, Jabeur looked to be in control at 4-2 up. But the Belgian broke back before a compelling set went to a tie-break of extreme quality.

It looked to be going Mertens’s way as she went 6-3 up. But then Jabeur saved four set points before a wrong‑footing winner took her 8-7 ahead. But Mertens was not finished. First she