Tunisian teenager Ons Jabeur wrapped up her tour of Japan with an astounding third title in four weeks as she continues her dream run and surge further up in the tennis rankings.
Jabeur, 18, lifted the trophy of the $50K ITF women’s grass event in Kurume, Japan on Sunday with a comprehensive 6-2, 6-0 win over No6 seed An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium, to record a second title win in as many weeks.
She beat the same opponent in Fukuoka last week to break the top-200 for the first time in her career.
The former Roland Garros junior champion, who also triumphed on home soil in Tunis three weeks ago, is expected to rise to around No181 when the new WTA rankings come out today.
She is now the highest ranked Arab female tennis player since her compatriot Selima Sfar last appeared in the top-200 five years ago.
When asked how she felt about capturing yet another title, Jabeur told Sport360°: “I feel so good. I like playing on grass it feels really good.
“It was really tough against An-Sophie. I played my best tennis. I gave everything and it worked.”
After losing in the first round of her first three events of the 2013 season, Jabeur has made quite the turnaround winning 20 of her last 21 singles matches.
On the secret behind her recent run, Jabeur added: “Working really hard and finding the good team to work with, finally. That works so good for me.
“I am happy and comfortable and that helped me. We still have got a lot of work to do and as they say ‘we never change a winning team’.”
The young Tunisian will now turn her focus to her final exams before resuming her on-court duties at the end of June. Her two titles on grass though do not mean we can expect to see her in the Wimbledon qualifying draw, even though her ranking gives her that opportunity.
“No I won’t be ready for Wimbledon, I want to do everything step by step,” says Jabeur. “My next targets will be the $25K in Sweden, then a $50k in Canada then I want to move on to the $75K events.”
READ MORE:
– BIG INTERVIEW: Ons Jabeur – The rise and rise of Arab tennis’ next star
– BIG INTERVIEW: Mohamed Safwat – Harsh realities facing Egyptian tennis ace trying to make his mark
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