Back-to-back Wimbledon finals for Ons Jabeur, dashing Sabalenka dreams

She did it the hard way, but Ons Jabeur is into her second consecutive Wimbledon final, beating Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4.

It took an ace from the Tunisian on her fifth match point to seal the victory.

Sabalenka could have confirmed her place at the top of the rankings with a maiden Wimbledon final, displacing reigning world No 1 Iga Swiatek.

But Jabeur showed the determination and the temperament that has helped her through some sticky patches this fortnight to clock her second career Top 5 win on a grass court – and her second this tournament. It makes her the first woman to pick up two Top 5 wins at Wimbledon since Sabine Lisicki in 2011.

Indeed, she is the first woman to defeat three opponents ranked in the Top 10 since Serena Williams beat Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwanska in 2012.

There is another achievement too – she is the first woman to win 28 or more matches on grass over a three-year span since Maria Sharapova (30 between 2004 and 2006).

It all comes during a tournament in which she has lost the first set three times – all against Grand Slam champions (Bianca Andreescu, Elena Rybakina and now Sabalenka) – and come back to win.

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