Jabeur admits to “a lot of emotion” as she beats Rybakina to reach Wimbledon semi-final

Ons Jabeur got an element of revenge over the woman who beat her in last year’s Wimbledon final

Ons Jabeur at Wimbledon in 2023 (Action Plus/Panoramic)

July 12, 2023

It was a rematch of last year’s Wimbledon final. Elena Rybakina triumphed on that day; today Ons Jabeur came back from a set down to seal her place in the SW19 semi-finals, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1.

It is the Tunisian’s third Slam semi-final – equalling the African record set by Amanda Coetzer of South Africa.

“I’m very happy with the performance – a lot of emotion out there,” Jabeur said afterwards.

“I just kept going. I said, ‘I’m going for my shots.’ If you try to play easy with her, it’s not going to work.”

Rybakina had gone into this match having not lost her serve since the very first set of the tournament; Jabeur broke her five times, going a double break up in the decider and giving herself the chance to serve it out.

Rybakina can take some solace, perhaps, from the fact that very rarely do defending Wimbledon champions go deep in the women’s draw the year after their title. The last one to go as far as Rybakina managed this year was Serena Williams in 2016, when she retained her title.

Indeed, rarely do female players manage consecutive runs to the semi-finals at Wimbledon. Jabeur is the first player to do it again since Serena, in 2018 and 2019.