Ons Jabeur continues historic week in Moscow by reaching her first WTA final

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  • Tenacious Tunisian: Ons Jabeur.

    Ons Jabeur’s history-making week in Moscow continued with yet another big scalp taken down by the Tunisian qualifier, who became the first Arab woman to reach a WTA final with her victory over fifth-seeded Anastasija Sevastova on Friday.

    Jabeur, who has now won seven consecutive matches in the Russian capital through qualifying and the main draw, knocked out three top-eight seeds so far this week – No. 3 seed Sloane Stephens, No. 8 seed Anett Kontaveit and Sevastova – and will be searching for a fourth victory against seeded opposition when she takes on No. 6 Daria Kasatkina in Saturday’s final.

    A former French Open junior champion, Jabeur has dazzled this week with a combination of an aggressive game, mixed with her deft touch and signature drop shots. She came back from a break down twice in the final set against Sevastova on Friday, to defeat the top Latvian 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

    “I’m really, really happy. It’s been a long, long week, many matches, and I’m really happy that I made it through to the final. Hopefully I can continue playing even better and finish the last match as good as the last matches,” Jabeur told Sport360 after her semi-final.”

  • Ons Jabeur is hoping her Beijing ‘adventure’ continues after Halep win

  • On how she swung momentum back in her favour in the decider, she added: “I had nothing to lose actually. For me I was just trying to play my game, break her, put some pressure on her. I knew exactly where I wasn’t playing well, I made less mistakes of course after that. She was struggling with her serve so it was easier for me to break her. I tried to be relaxed because when I’m stressed I’m not playing really good.”

    The world No. 101 will rise to at least 63 in the rankings on Monday, which would make her the highest-ranked Arab woman in the history of the WTA. Success over home favourite Kasatkina would see Jabeur crack the top-50 for the first time.

    In a highly-entertaining affair that saw Jabeur hit two tweeners, the North African fired 45 winners to oust Sevastova and make her maiden WTA final appearance, at a Premier-level tournament no less.

    Through her seven matches in Moscow so far, Jabeur has spent a total of 8hr 48 minutes on court. Despite playing seven days in a row, the 24-year-old feels ready to bring her A-game against Kasatkina.

    “I’m okay. I was expecting myself to feel more tired but actually I’m feeling better, I’m good. Hopefully we’ll see tomorrow how I’m going to wake up but I hope I will have the energy to finish and have a great match tomorrow. I made it to the final so why not finish with a good result?” said Jabeur.

    The affable Jabeur had a tough start to her Moscow qualifying campaign, dropping her first set to Fanny Stollar before recovering to win in three sets. She also had a tight clash with Britain’s Harriet Dart that ended in a final-set tiebreak. She went from strength to strength from then on, upsetting 2017 US Open champion and world No. 8 Sloane Stephens in her second round, which was Jabeur’s third career top-10 victory. She is now 4-7 against top-20 opposition and sports a unique game that can trouble many big guns in the future.

    She’s been putting impressive numbers this week, leading the field in aces (21), first-serve points won (77.1%), service points won (64.2%), and service games won (82.9%).

    Asked if she felt things started clicking for her at a specific match this week, she said: “Match by match, especially the first qualifying match, I didn’t start really good, but then I tried to come back. I wasn’t frustrated on the court,  I had good attitude, playing good matches. I had the click after doing well to win that match which gave me the confidence to know how I can switch from bad to good, from that moment on.”

    The final promises to be a hot-shot filled extended highlight reel with both Kasatkina and Jabeur renowned for their on-court creativity. Kasatkina could secure a top-10 debut if she wins the title, and she’s searching for her first trophy on home soil.

    The pair often spend the offseason together training in Slovakia, and trade jokes and trash talk, especially when their respective favourite football clubs – Real Madrid for Jabeur and Barcelona for Kasatkina – face-off.

    The 14th-ranked Kasatkina, who also made the final in Moscow last year, losing to Julia Goerges, is 1-0 against Jabeur, haven beaten the Tunisian at the Rio Olympics in 2016, in three sets. Kasatkina advanced to Saturday’s title decider by defeating Britain’s Johanna Konta 6-4, 6-3. Jabeur is looking forward to facing Kasatkina and her home crowd.

    “Dasha is playing really well lately, so it’s going to be a tough match tomorrow especially playing in Russia, in her country,” said Jabeur. “Hopefully I can play my game. The key tomorrow is for me to stay relaxed, to not stress. I made it to the final so why not win the title?”

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