On July 12, Ons Jabeur, ranked sixth in the world, got her revenge against Elena Rybakina in the Wimbledon 2023 women’s singles quarter-final. The match took place on Centre Court and lasted for an intense one hour and 53 minutes. Jabeur emerged as the winner, defeating the defending champion with a score of 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4.
This victory propelled Ons Jabeur into the semi-finals of the tournament. In the previous year, Rybakina had defeated Jabeur in the final, after making a comeback from being a set down. However, this time it was Jabeur’s turn to turn the tide and repay the favor.
Jabeur fetched herself a set point in the first set, but Rybakina held her nerve to win the set. But from the second set onwards, Jabeur did not allow her opponent much breathing space. In the third and final set, Jabeur broke Rybakina’s serve twice.
Jabeur will next be up against Belarus’s Aryna Sabalenka, who made her way through to her second Wimbledon semi-final after beating USA’s Madison Keys.
Sabalenka did not face many problems against Keys, winning the match 6-2, 6-4 on Court 1 in an hour and 27 minutes. The Belarusian star was brilliant with her first serves, winning 75 percent of points (27 out of 36) from them. She made 14 unforced errors, but made up for the same with 17 smashing winners
Sabalenka also earned four breaks of serve as opposed to Keys’s one. Back in 2021, Sabalenka went through to the semis at SW19, but lost to Karolina Pliskova. She will want to go one step up and keep alive her hopes of a second Grand Slam title.
In the other semi-final, Elina Svitolina and Marketa Vondrousova will face off. Svitolina, on Tuesday, knocked World No.1 Iga Swiatek out of the competition.
