Tunisian third seed Ons Jabeur defeated Czech Marie Bouzkova 3-6 6-1 6-1 on Tuesday and reached her maiden Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon.
She’s the first Arab player – man or woman – to reach a Grand Slam semifinal.
She’s won 10 straight matches on grass since she went down in the first round of Roland Garros this year, having won a title in Berlin before coming to the All England Club.
With her career-high ranking of second, Jabeur will face 103rd-ranked Tatjana Maria for a place in the final. Tatjana Maria beat fellow German Jule Niemeier earlier.
Despite playing in her second straight Wimbledon quarterfinal, Jabeur almost couldn’t beat Bouzkova’s stoic defence in the first set. Bouzkova has never gone beyond the second round of a Grand Slam before this year.
As Bouzkova broke twice, she won the opener, but Jabeur rallied back with three breaks in the second set to level the match.
After breaking twice again, Jabeur clinched a 4-0 lead and won eight straight games before the Czech halted the momentum.
The break was only a minor hiccup for Jabeur, as she broke again in the next game before holding serve to love on match point.
