Ons Jabeur ends magical run of friend Tatjana Maria to move one victory away from creating her own fairy-tale story; she remains on course to be first woman from an Arab country and the continent of Africa to win Grand Slam; follow live updates of the final in our blog
Thursday 7 July 2022 18:48, UK
Ons Jabeur ended the run of 103rd-ranked Tatjana Maria to reach her maiden Grand Slam final at Wimbledon on Friday.
The third seed became the first African woman and Arab player in the Open Era to advance to a major final by winning her 11th match in a row with a 6-2 3-6 6-1 victory over her good friend from Germany.
Jabeur was magnanimous in victory and ensured her friend Maria shared in the applause at the end after both had embraced at the net.
"I want to say it is a dream come true after years and years of work. I am really happy it pays off and I continue for one more match now," said the Tunisian, who next faces Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan in Saturday's final.
"I definitely wanted to share the moment with Tatjana at the end because she is such an inspiration for so many players, including me, coming back after two babies. I still can't believe how she did it."
Jabeur has continued her excellent 12 months since winning the title in Birmingham last summer and then reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
She is now up to three in the world rankings after a fine clay-court campaign and then another grass-court title in Berlin by making her maiden Grand Slam final.
Jabeur proved too good for Maria in the end but the mum-of-two went down fighting after bringing her remarkable 35th appearance at a major to its conclusion in the semi-final stage.
Maria had never made the second week of a Grand Slam before this summer and only gave birth last April but lost out to first-time finalist Jabeur.
Eight was the number of minutes it took for Maria to hold her first service game in a clear indicator of how tough a task she faced if she wanted to continue her dream run at the All England Club.
Jabeur would eventually break at the fifth time of asking and another followed in the seventh game, which saw the Tunisian produce a drop shot on the spin which Maria returned to draw big applause from a near-enough full 15,000 crowd.
Back-to-back aces helped the highest seed left in the competition take the opener in 38 minutes to move one set away from the final.
Maria was no stranger to being behind in the Championships, with four of her five matches going to a third set and three of them lasting over two hours.
Those trademark powers of recovery were on full display as the third seed was broken in the fourth game of the second set after a wonderful exchange of drop shots and slices.
A double-fault almost let Jabeur back in immediately but supreme defensive skills from Maria, who was making some exceptional lob shots with her back against the wall, clinched another key hold.
Despite a first set point coming and going, largely thanks to some brilliance at the net from Jabeur, Maria did force a decider after one of her more comfortable service games.
A big weight of expectation had been on Jabeur's shoulders for a lengthy period of time but she had handled the pressure impeccably so far and did so again.
The 27-year-old found her best tennis at a critical time here.
A double-handed backhand winner with both feet off the grass showed she was ready to fight and when Maria double-faulted midway through the next game, Jabeur scented blood.
A glorious forehand down the line secured a decisive break and a second followed to send the Tunisian into a first Grand Slam final.
Speaking at her press conference, Jabeur said: "I want to go bigger, inspire many more generations. Tunisia is
connected to the Arab world, is connected to the African continent. The area, we want to see more players.
"It's not like Europe or any other countries. I want to see more players from my country, from the Middle East, from Africa. I think we didn't believe enough at certain point that we can do it. Now I'm just trying to show that. Hopefully people are getting inspired."
Defeat for Maria ended her remarkable run to the last four at Wimbledon and she said: "I hope that I can send this message out that I have two kids and I'm on this stage. I think everything is possible. I'm 34 years old with two kids and playing my first semi-final in Wimbledon.
"It was amazing to play on Centre Court today, but for sure, like any other match, it's a little bit painful that I could not win at the end."
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