In an intense semi-final between Ons Jabeur and Tatjana Maria, Ons created history by beating Maria to become the first Arab, African woman to reach the Wimbledon finals. Maria lost 6-2 3-6 6-1 against Jabeur. The intense competition ended with a long, embracing hug.
“I’m a proud Tunisian woman standing here,” said Jabeur. “It’s a dream come true from years of work and sacrifice. I’m happy that’s paid off and I’ll continue for one more match. Physically, Tatjana is a beast, she doesn’t give up. I thought she would give up. Her touch, her serve and everything on the court is impressive. (Alprazolam) I hope she continues this way. Let’s not play again, I’m good for now.”
Ons Jabeur to face Elena Rybakina in the finals
With breaks in the third and seventh games, Ons Jabeur easily defeated mother-of-two Tatjana Maria in the first set. In the opening set, the Tunisian had 15 aces to her opponent’s six, and she did not encounter a solitary break point. Nevertheless, Maria did eventually succeed in breaking through for 3-1 in the second set thanks to a sequence of superb slices. The German leveled the match with six unforced errors to Jabeur’s 17 in the second set. Jabeur, then, earned a double break for a 5-0 lead before saving a second match point to go down in history.
The only African women to have advanced to a Slam singles final up until Thursday were South Africa’s Irene Bowder Peacock (1927 French Open) and Renee Schuurman (1959 Australian Open).
Elena Rybakina will compete for the title on Saturday against Jabeur, who is also competing in her first major final. In recent years, Ons Jabeur has emerged as a rising star in the tennis world. She was the first Arab woman to make it to a major quarterfinal in 2020 at the Australian Open. Numerous firsts were accomplished in the past year. It included the first Arab to reach Wimbledon’s quarter-finals and the first Arab to place in the top 10 of either the men’s or women’s rankings. Now, she has improved upon that by two steps becoming the first Arab African woman to reach finals.
