Remarkable fightback puts Ons Jabeur in Rome semis

Ons Jabeur reached the semifinals of the Italian Open on Friday after bouncing back from being a game away from defeat to beat Maria Sakkari 1-6, 7-5, 6-1. Tunisian Jabeur made history last weekend by winning in Madrid to become the first Arab or African player to claim a WTA 1000 title and let out a roar of delight after a magnificent win in Rome. The 27-year-old looked certain to be heading out after being hammered by world number four Sakkari in the first set and going down 5-2 in the second.

Greece's Sakkari was serving for what appeared to be a routine win but from nowhere Jabeur pushed back, breaking serve in game eight before winning the next seven to go three ahead in set three, a lead which she never relinquished. "In my head at 5-2 I said, You cannot finish those two weeks, those amazing almost three weeks, like this," Jabeur told reporters. "To back up the performance from Madrid, it's very important for me...

It's one of the reasons why I'm here, why I want to continue showing myself on the court." In the last four Jabeur will face either Daria Kasatkina, who went through after Switzerland's Jil Tiechmann retired injured while the Russian was leading 6-4, 3-2. Earlier Iga Swiatek stretched her winning streak to 26 matches after a straight-sets victory over Bianca Andreescu, 7-6 (7/2), 6-0. Swiatek, the reigning champion in Rome, is gunning for a fifth tournament victory in a row and showed why she is the favourite for the French Open later this month against Canadian Andreescu.