Ons Jabeur, at the final of the US Open: the record that equaled Serena Williams and the quick rematch that would have allowed her to make the history of African tennis

Sport, it is said, usually gives revenge. Maybe not as fast as the Tunisian could get it Ons Jabeurthat with a match in which he touched perfection he imposed himself on the French Carolina Garcia 6-1 and 6-3, to be a finalist for the US Open after his failed attempt at Wimbledon and continue to hope to be the first African to win a Grand Slam title.

Jabeur, number five in the world, has reconfirmed the triumphs he won against Garcia at the United States Open 2019 and the Australian Open 2020, and this Saturday he will fight for the first ‘big one’ of his career, after the Kazakh Elena Rybakina denied him glory in London.

The story continues to be made by Jabeur, who is the first North African player to reach the final in Flushing Meadows. Plus, she’s made sure to move up to third in the standings from next Monday, though she could be second if Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka wasn’t crowned champion in New York.

She was strong when it came to converting her break chances (four out of four), and to that she added 21 winners to chain the Wimbledon and New York Finals, something that hadn’t been recorded since 2019, with the American. Serena Williams as the protagonist.

He did it after disarming a Garcia who came to this match as one of the most fit players of the moment, as she demonstrated just two days ago with a sensational victory against the American Coco Gauff.

The French had a series of thirteen consecutive victoriesstarted in the qualifiers in Cincinnati, where she won the title against the Czech Petra Kvitovawith only four sets lost in total.

Jabeur extended to six of six his semifinal win streak this year and it only took him 66 minutes to seal his ticket to the final.

He has had 27 breaks in this tournament and this Thursday he converted his three opportunities in the first set to win it 6-1 in less than half an hour.

He gave no break chance to Garcia and converted the only break point of the second set in the fourth game to seal his place in the final.

Brings 92 wins in the last two years and leads the circuit from this point of view, even in a season in which the great ruler was the Pole Iga Swiateknumber 1 and that this Thursday he faced the Belarusian Sabalenka.

An uphill race

At the age of 27, Jabeur became the best African tennis player of all time with her performance at Wimbledon. It is true that the thorn was lodged in him, but this opportunity in Flushing Meadows confirms his climb.

In October 2018, the Tunisian was the first player from her country to reach the final of a WTA tournament. She was in Moscow, where she, after passing the qualy (she was 101st in the standings), she lost the last match with the Russian Daria Kasatkina, then number six in the world. After that performance she entered the top 100. Before her, the only Tunisian who had ever appeared in that group was Selima Sfar, who reached 75th place in July 2001.

In early 2020 she reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open (lost to American Sofia Kenin, then champion) and broke another barrier for Tunisian tennis. And a month later, she was the first born in that country to reach the top 50. And last year, she was the first to win a title in the most important circuit of women’s tennis, winning the first of her in her career. her in Birmingham. She celebrates that each new milestone in her career can inspire future generations.

“It’s still about Tunisia in some way, but I want to go a little further, inspire many more generations. Tunisia is connected to the Arab world, the African continent, that’s where we want more players to come out. It’s not like in L ‘ Europe or other places, where I want to see more players is in my country, in the Middle East, in Africa. I think we never believed enough we could do it, but now I’m trying to show it to them, I hope people will be inspired, “he commented. .

This 2022 did not start in the best way, as he had to withdraw from Australia due to a back injury. But since her return she plays at the highest levels and is one of the two strongest players of the season, together with the Polish Iga Swiatek, number one in the world.

He has become number two in the world this season, where Jabeur has two titles (the WTA 1000 in Rome and the 500 in Berlin, just before Wimbledon) and two other finals (Charleston and Rome). His total record in 2022 is 38 wins and 13 losses. But the illusion remains intact.