LONDON: It was a windswept afternoon at Wimbledon. The sun played hide-and-seek, rain drops fell here and there, some on your head. Ons Jabeur required her talent to shine. She needed her spin and slices, every d ink and dent in her armoury to count against the defending champion Elena Rybakina.
Centre Court was rooting unabashedly for the 28-year-old of myriad shots, not very different from 12 months ago, when she lost the final after taking the opening set against t he Kazakh. Rybakina, the big serving third seed, was tipped to make back-to-back finals. Only the crafty Tunisian had other plans.
Down a set and locked at 4-4 in the second, Jabeur won eight of the last nine games to flip last year's final res ult. Jabeur won 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1 to make her third career Grand Slam semifinal.
"A lot of emotions out there, I did everything, I got angry, I got calm. I doubted myself, shouted at my coaches, told them you asked me to play like this (after losing the first s et). I could write a book on my emotions. Hopefully I can keep managing my emotions in the next matches," Jabeur said, adding, "I wish we could exchange this match for the final last year."
Jabeur will play the No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka for a place in the final. Ukraine's Elina Svitolina is up against Marketa Vondrousova in the other last four clash.
The 25-year-old Belarusian, who put out the N o. 25 seed Madison Keys 6-2, 6-4 in the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Court No. 1, will need to defeat Jabeur in the last four to own the top spot in the rankings.
"It was a really tough game, I was s o happy to win the second set, that game at 2-4, 0-40 was just incredible, "she said. "Since I was little, I was dreaming about the Wimbledon title, it is something special, Wimbledon is different, it's more special."
"Thank you so much for the atmosphere, even though you supported her more," a smiling Sabalenka told Court No. 1. "I still enjoyed playing in front of you guys."
Sabalenka is one win away from ending Pole Iga Swiatek's stay at the top of the WTA rankings.
"I want both (the Slam and the No. 1 ranking)," Sabalenka said. "But I'm trying to focus on myself because I know if I start thinking about all this stuff, I'm going to lose my focus on the court."
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