Jabeur’s Thrilling Victory and Vondrousova’s Surprising Upset Propel them to the Wimbledon Final

2023-07-13 20:55:42

A year ago, Jabeur lost the final in London once morest Kazakh Jelena Rybakina in three sets. Due to the defeat, Sabalenka not only missed the entry into the final, but also the jump to first place in the world rankings. In case of a victory once morest Jabeur, Belarusian Iga Swiatek from Poland would have replaced at the top of the ranking.

In a gripping duel, both players initially played sovereign service games. The logical consequence was the tie break, which Sabalenka won. The Belarusian was then already ahead with a break in the second set before Jabeur won four games in a row and thus also the set. In the third round, the Tunisian then managed the decisive break to lead 4:2, following 2:19 hours she converted her fifth match point.

“I’ve learned to turn negative emotions into positive ones,” said Jabeur, who was always highly emotional on the pitch. “I’m proud that I turned the game around and that I’m further in the tournament.”

Vondrousova also stayed on in the tournament, moving into her second Grand Slam final. At the French Open 2019, however, she had to admit defeat to Australian Ashleigh Barty, who has since retired. “I can not believe it. I am very happy that I reached the final. Elina is such a fighter and a great person. It was a tough match. I’m very happy,” said the 24-year-old Czech, who showed a strong performance and converted her first match point following just 74 minutes.

A forehand winner gave Vondrousova the break in set one to go 3-2 up and despite giving up her own serve in the next game with some unforced errors including a double fault, she was back in front in the very next game. From then on, the cheerfully playing Czech dominated at will and already looked like the sure winner with 4:0 in the second round.

Then Vondrousova apparently got nervous. Switolina came back to 3:4 and seemed to be able to turn the game around. But the Czech caught herself once more and made the surprising final entry perfect. For Switolina, who had become the crowd favorite at Wimbledon, the impressive triumph ended. The Ukrainian had previously thrown four former Grand Slam winners out of the tournament.

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