Wimbledon: Ons Jabeur creates history, becomes first Arab and first African woman to reach Grand Slam final

LONDON: Tunisia's Ons Jabeur has booked her slot in the Wimbledon final after a win over Germany's Tatjana Maria in the semi-finals of the women's category on Thursday.

The No. 3 seed Jabeur won the one-hour, forty-three-minute long match against Maria by a margin of 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.

She has become the first Tunisian, first Arab and first African woman to reach a Grand Slam final in the Open era. She has been setting records for her country and region for last four years. Having won 22 of her previous 24 matches, now she has the opportunity to win her biggest title.

Before the 27-year-old Jabeur, the only Tunisian to break into the Top 100 of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) was Selima Sfar, who peaked at No 75 in July 2001.

She became the first player from her country to reach the WTA final in Moscow in 2018, to make it to the Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open 2020 and break into the Top 50 a month later, to clinch a WTA title at Birmingham in 2021, which paved way for a Top 10 debut in October 2021.

Earlier, Former champion Simona Halep will once again play for a berth in the Wimbledon final after she defeated No.20 seed Amanda Anisimova in Wednesday's quarterfinals.

The 2019 winner, seeded No.16 this year, ran her personal winning streak at the Championships to 12 with a 6-2, 6-4 win over the American.

After Anisimova held serve to begin each set, Halep won five straight games twice as the American toiled to find rhythm off the ground.

But from 6-2, 5-1 ahead, the match grew tense. Anisimova won three straight games with the loss of just four points, and in quest of a fourth, the American led 0-40. However, Halep won five points in a row to finally finish off the win in 63 minutes.

In Thursday's semifinals, she'll face No.17 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, who rallied for a three-set win over Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic.

Elena Rybakina delivered a dazzling serving performance against Ajla Tomljanovic in the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Wednesday to seal a spot in the semifinals.

Rybakina fired 15 aces en route to a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory in 1 hour and 51 minutes.

The win puts Rybakina into her first Grand Slam semifinal and also means she is the first Kazakh in history to reach the last four of a major.