Ons Jabeur goes from ‘no great expectations’ to final in Berlin after beating Coco Gauff

Ons Jabeur is one win away from picking up her third WTA Tour singles trophy after reaching the final of the Berlin Open with a solid win over Coco Gauff.

The top-seeded Tunisian held off Gauff in a tight opening set before easing across the finish line as she claimed a 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 win over the American in one hour and 17 minutes for her fourth final of 2022.

Game Set ONS

Top seed @Ons_Jabeur gets the better of Gauff with a 7-6(4), 6-2 semifinal win in Berlin!#bett1open pic.twitter.com/6Zbo6zrsc2

— wta (@WTA) June 18, 2022

Jabeur, who won the Madrid Open in May, got off to a poor start as she was broken in the second game as the Gauff raced into a 3-0 lead. However, she broke back in game five and then edged the tie-breaker before three breaks to one in the second set earned her the victory.

“It means a lot to be in the (Berlin) final,” the world No 4 said.

“I had no great expectations, I came here as fourth or fifth seed and then ended up first, but grass suits me well.”

She will face Belinda Bencic in Sunday’s final after the Swiss won one of the longest matches of the season against Maria Sakkari.

The eighth-seeded Becnic required three hours and seven minutes to get the better of the Greek, winning 6-7 (6-10), 6-4, 6-4.

The first set alone took one hour and 13 minutes to complete with Sakkari edging the tie-breaker after the duo shared four breaks of serve.

Two single breaks in games 10 of the second and third sets earned Bencic the win.

“I thought that was an incredible match,” the Tokyo Olympics gold medallist said. “We both kind of pushed really hard, we both didn’t give each other anything. I think it was high quality, of course we held our serves as much as we could, and I really felt like we put on a show