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LONDON: The women’s final at Wimbledon is set.
Ons Jabeur of Tunisia will face Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina in a meeting of first-time Grand Slam finalists after both were victorious on Thursday.
Jabeur, 27, took down Tatjana Maria of Germany 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 while Rybakina, 23, beat Romanian Simona Halep 6-3, 6-3.
This final will be extra special for both competitors. Neither Jabeur nor Rybakina had ever gone past the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam in their careers.
Jabeur reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open in 2020 as well as last year’s Wimbledon while Rybakina made it to the last eight at the French Open last year.
Now, they’ll face off at Wimbledon.
This isn’t the first time Jabeur and Rybakina have played each other, though it is their first match against each other in a Grand Slam. Jabeur holds a 2-1 edge over Rybakina since 2019.
Whoever wins Saturday’s match will also mark the fifth consecutive year with a first-time women’s champion at Wimbledon.
Though Jabeur set a personal best, she also did so geographically. Jabeur became the first Tunisian player (male or female), first Arab player (male or female) and first woman from Africa to win reach a Grand Slam final in the Open Era.
“I am a proud Tunisian woman standing here right now,” Jabeur said after her victory over Maria. “I know in Tunisia they’re going crazy now. I just try to inspire as much as I can.”
Before Thursday, South Africans Irene Bowder Peacock, at the 1927 French Open, and Renee Schuurman, in the 1959 Australian Open, were the only African women to have reached a Slam singles final.
“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,” said Jabeur.
“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. I hope she continues this way. Let’s not play again, I’m good for now.
Jabeur coasted through the first set against mother-of-two Maria with breaks in the third and seventh games.
The Tunisian fired 15 winners to her opponent’s six in the first set while not facing a single break point.
However, Maria, described by Jabeur as her “barbecue buddy”, did manage to finally break through for 3-1 in the second set off the back of a series of delicate slices.
Jabeur’s 17 unforced errors in the second set compared to the six of the more accurate German, who levelled the contest.
But there was to be no upset win as the 103rd-ranked Maria’s challenge was quashed.
Jabeur secured a double break for a 5-0 advantage before securing her place in history on a second match point.
Rybakina then dismantled former champion Halep with a clinical display to reach her maiden Grand Slam showpiece.
Halep was caught in the crosshairs of an onslaught from the Russian-born Kazakh, who pummelled her Romanian opponent with rasping serves and savage forehands.
Halep, the champion in 2019, did not help her cause, with a string of double faults to hand Rybakina chances at key moments.
Yet the 17th seed needed little assistance, as she became the first player from Kazakhstan to reach a Grand Slam final.
“It was really good, today I was mentally prepared and did everything I could and it was an amazing match,” she said.
“I think it’s going to be a great match [against Jabeur]. She’s a great player, very tricky player. It’s not going to be easy to play against her drop shots and volleys.”
The 23-year-old Rybakina, the ace leader in the women’s tournament, switched her nationality to Kazakhstan in 2018 to take advantage of greater financial help.
Russian and Belarusian players were banned from this year’s Wimbledon following the invasion of Ukraine.
NADAL IN RACE TO BE FIT FOR SEMIS
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal is facing a race against time to be fit for Friday’s mouthwatering Wimbledon semi-final against Nick Kyrgios.
A meeting between 22-time Grand Slam champion Nadal and the mercurial Australian has been on the cards since Kyrgios defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in an ill-tempered third-round meeting.
Kyrgios cruised through his last-eight match against unseeded Chilean Cristian Garin on Wednesday in straight sets to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final.
But it was a different story for Nadal, who had to battle an abdominal injury in a gruelling five-set win against 11th-seeded American Taylor Fritz.
The second seed, visibly in pain, looked unlikely to finish the match when he was forced to take a medical time-out in the second set.
But he returned to the court and twice recovered from a set down to win 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10-4) in four hours and 21 minutes.
The extra time on court for Nadal — two hours longer than Kyrgios — is a factor in itself but the Spaniard’s injury raises the prospect that he may not even be fit enough to play his semi-final.
Nadal, the 2008 and 2010 champion, said he was unsure over his ongoing participation in the tournament as he targets the third leg of a rare calendar Grand Slam.
“I can’t give you a clear answer because if I gave you a clear answer and tomorrow another thing happens, I will be a liar,” the 36-year-old said after his quarter-final win.
Spanish sports daily Marca reported on Thursday that Nadal has a “seven-millimetre” tear to his abdomen but still intends to play.
So much attention is focussed on the Kyrgios v Nadal showdown that Britain’s Cameron Norrie continues to avoid the full glare of the spotlight as he prepares to take on top seed Novak Djokovic in the other semi-final.
Djokovic, bidding for a fourth successive Wimbledon title and seventh in total, looks the clear favourite to lift the trophy on Sunday and salvage what has been a difficult year.
But ninth seed Norrie, the fourth British man to reach the semi-finals in the professional era, will not be intimidated and with the Centre Court crowd roaring him on anything is possible.
“It’s one of the tougher tasks in tennis, I’m going to have to definitely raise my level and raise my level of focus to have a shot with him,” Norrie said.