Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur beats Elena Rybakina to reach Wimbledon semi-final

WIMBLEDON, London: Ons Jabeur gained revenge for her defeat in last year’s Wimbledon final on Wednesday, coming from behind to beat Elena Rybakina and reach the last four. In a repeat of the 2022 title match, the Tunisian sixth seed beat her third-ranked opponent 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-1 on Center Court. The 28-year-old will face Belarusian second seed Aryna Sabalenka for a place in Saturday’s final at the All England Club.

“I’m very happy with the performance — a lot of emotion out there, especially playing someone that serves really well,” she said. “It’s frustrating to return but I’m glad I did everything, shouted, got angry, then got calm and focused and hopefully I can manage my emotions like this for the next two matches.” Rybakina was first to pounce, breaking to love in the fourth game when Jabeur went wide with a backhand but the Tunisian hit back immediately. Jabeur took advantage of a loose volley at the net from Rybakina to break again and edge into a 6-5 lead.

But this time she was the player who failed to consolidate, squandering a set point as Rybakina forced a tie-break, which she won. The Kazakh survived break points in the second game of the second set while Jabeur was forced to dig deep on her serve to move into a 3-2 lead. Both players held serve until the 10th game, when Rybakina cracked and Jabeur levelled the match.