Jab, Jab, KO

LONDON, July 13

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Ons Jabeur showed that it is sometimes better to float like a butterfly than sting like a bee as her wily artistry overcame the brutal hitting of Aryna Sabalenka to reach her second Wimbledon final with a 6-7(5) 6-4 6-3 victory today.

Jabeur, who was beaten in last year’s final, looked destined to suffer more heartbreak on Centre Court when she lost the opening set, but her delicate strokeplay and clever angles eventually subdued the relentless power of Belarusian Sabalenka.

The victory set up a final between the Tunisian sixth seed and unseeded Czech Marketa Vondrousova, the former French Open finalist who ended the hopes of Ukrainian Elina Svitolina earlier today.

Jabeur, who also finished runner-up at last year’s US Open, lost a tense first set tiebreak and fell 2-4 down in the second, but roared back with two breaks to level the contest. She then got a decisive break to move 4-2 up in the third set and while the Tunisian passed up four match points, she finally got over the line with an ace.

Czech mate

Vondrousova showed there was no room for any gushing sentiment as she ended the remarkable run of new mum Elina Svitolina with a 6-3 6-3 victory to reach the Wimbledon final for the first time.

In the run-up to a first All England Club women’s semifinal featuring two unseeded players, Vondrousova said the Ukrainian was “incredible”, “amazing”, “a fighter” and “a super woman” for reaching the last-four of a Grand Slam nine months after giving birth to daughter Skai.

But that did not stop Vondrousova from shattering Svitolina’s dreams and she now stands one win from completing her own phenomenal comeback story after two wrist surgeries following her runner-up finish at the French Open in 2019. “I didn’t play for six months last year and you never know if you can be at that level again. I’m just so grateful to be here and to be healthy and play again,” she said. — Reuters

Bopanna-Ebden bow out in semis

India’s Rohan Bopanna and Australia’s Matthew Ebden crashed out of the men’s doubles competition after losing 5-7 4-6 to top seeds Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Neal Skupsk of Great Britain in the semifinals.