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Ons Jabeur produced a superb comeback to beat Aryna Sabalenka and set up a Wimbledon women’s singles final against unseeded Czech Marketa Vondrousova.
Jabeur’s hopes were slipping away at a set and 4-2 behind but she rode a wave of momentum and raucous support to win 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-3 and reach a second successive final at the Championships.
It means there will be a new Wimbledon and Grand Slam champion on Saturday.
Vondrousova ended Ukrainian Elina Svitolina’s run by winning 6-3 6-3.
She is the first unseeded player to reach the Wimbledon women’s singles final in the Open era.
Tunisia’s Jabeur, the sixth seed, was beaten in last year’s final by Elena Rybakina and was wildly supported by the Centre Court crowd throughout one of the best matches of the tournament so far.
“Thank you to the crowd that kept me in the match,” Jabeur said in her on-court interview.
“Thank you very much for believing in me.
“I’m working a lot with my mental coach about this. I might be writing a book about it!”
The women’s singles final is at 14:00 BST on Saturday.
Crowd favourite Jabeur turns it around
The charismatic Jabeur, bidding to become the first African and Arab woman to be a Slam singles champion, gained a large following at SW19 on her run to last year’s final.
That support was much needed as she fought back from the brink against the world number two.
Jabeur, who beat Rybakina in the previous round, had made most of the running in the first set, repeatedly applying pressure in Sabalenka service games – staying silent and composed as her opponent’s shrieks echoed around under the roof.
But from 4-2 in the first-set tie-break a flurry of untimely errors from the Tunisian allowed Australian Open champion Sabalenka to take the opener.
Jabeur was visibly deflated at the start of the second and at 2-2, a forehand error and a double fault gifted the Belarusian a break of serve, despite the crowd’s best efforts to lift their player.
With the match slipping away, Jabeur came out on the wrong side of two gruelling points – the second of which left her flat on her back on the grass in disappointment – but she still managed to break back to level.
From 4-4 she won the next two games, the set sealed with a stunning backhand return winner after which she cupped her ear to a roaring crowd.
With the…
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