Tunisian Ons Jabeur, first African to reach WTA 1000 event finals
World number 10 Ons Jabeur becomes the first African ever to reach the WTA 1000 event final at Madrid Open after seeing off Ekaterina Alexandrova in two straight sets in the semifinals The Trumpet reports.
The 27 years old, who has a record of 6-1 defeats against the Russian Alexandrova that featured in the tourney as an independent athlete, asserted that she took it as a challenge to put up shocking revenge.
Alexandrova was featured in the WTA 1000 event in Madrid Open as an independent athlete due to the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes from several supporting activities with Wimbledon and LTA following suit.
Sequel to the above, the eight-seeded Jabeur having won the quarterfinal 6-3 6-2 against Romanian Simona Halep, a former French Open and Wimbledon champion, took revenge on Alexandrova in a 6-2, 6-3 win. This win brings the head-to-head stats between the Tunisian and Russian to 6-2.
“I felt like I was sick of losing against her all the time, so I came here to take my revenge,” Jauber told BBC Sport.
“I feel like this tournament is a revenge tournament, every match. I’m very glad about my performance. I know she plays well, so I tried to impose my rhythm.”
“I’m very happy with the level I played,” she added.
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Jauber plays 12th-seeded American Jessica Pegula, the winner against Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann, in Saturday’s final in what could be her greatest career win.
According to the Tunisian, her opponent should appear exhausted when they meet.
She continued: “I really hope they play for five hours and they become tired.
“I’m just going to focus on myself, it’s been tough losing a few finals lately. I’m going to do my best and then give it all for this one,” Jabeur said.
Following last month’s defeat in Charleston to Belinda Bencic, Jabeur, currently the number one African player and the highest-ranked Arab tennis player in ATP or WTA rankings’ history, looks to win her second trophy after her first from WTA 250 event at Birmingham in 2021.
