Jabeur makes roaring comeback to enter final

LONDON: Ons Jabeur showed that it is sometimes better to float like a butterfly than sting like a bee as her wily artistry overcame the brutal hitting of second seed Aryna Sabalenka to reach her second Wimbledon final with a 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 victory on Thursday.

Jabeur, who was beaten in last year’s final, looked destined to suffer more heartbreak on Centre Court when she lost the opening set. But her delicate strokeplay and clever angles eventually subdued the relentless power of Belarusian Sabalenka.

The victory set up a final between the Tunisian sixth seed and the unseeded Czech Marketa Vondrousova, the former French Open finalist who ended the hopes of Ukrainian Elina Svitolina earlier.

Jabeur, who also finished runner-up at last year’s US Open, lost a tense first set tie-break and fell 2-4 down in the second set, but roared back with two breaks to level the contest. She then got a decisive break to move 4-2 up in the third set and while the Tunisian passed up four match points, she finally got over the line with an ace.

Vondrousova ends Svitolina’s run

Vondrousova showed that there was no room for any gushing sentiment as she ended the remarkable run of new mum Elina Svitolina with a 6-3, 6-3 victory.

In the run-up to the first Wimbledon women’s semi-final featuring two unseeded players, Vondrousova had described Svitolina as “a fighter” and “a super woman” for reaching the last-four stage of a Slam just nine months after giving birth to her daughter Skai.

A forehand winner gave Vondrousova the break for a 3-2 lead in the opener and although she surrendered her own serve in the next game with some sloppy unforced errors, including a double fault, she was back in front again in the following game.

From them on, Svitolina was left shrieking, screeching and squealing in exasperation over and over again as Vondrousova frustrated her with her swinging left-handed serve to win seven games on the bounce.

RESULTS: Women’s singles: Semi-finals: O Jabeur bt A Sabalenka 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3; E Svitolina lost to M Vondrousova 3-6, 3-6. Men’s doubles: Semi-finals: W Koolhof/N Skupski bt M Ebden/R Bopanna 7-5, 6-4