Ons Jabeur produced a superb comeback to beat Aryna Sabalenka and set up a Wimbledon women’s singles final against unseeded Czech Marketa Vondrousova.
Jabeur’s hopes were slipping away at a set and 4-2 behind but she rode a wave of momentum and raucous support to win 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-3 and reach a second successive final at the Championships.
It means there will be a new Wimbledon and Grand Slam champion on Saturday.
Vondrousova ended Ukrainian Elina Svitolina’s run by winning 6-3 6-3.
She is the first unseeded player to reach the Wimbledon women’s singles final in the Open era.
Tunisia’s Jabeur, the sixth seed, was beaten in last year’s final by Elena Rybakina and was wildly supported by the Centre Court crowd throughout one of the best matches of the tournament so far.
“Thank you to the crowd that kept me in the match,” Jabeur said in her on-court interview.
“Thank you very much for believing in me.
“I’m working a lot with my mental coach about this. I might be writing a book about it!”
Crowd favourite Jabeur turns it around
The charismatic Jabeur, bidding to become the first African and Arab woman to be a Slam singles champion, gained a large following at SW19 on her run to last year’s final.
That support was much needed as she fought back from the brink against the world number two.
Jabeur, who beat Rybakina in the previous round, had made most of the running in the first set, repeatedly applying pressure in Sabalenka service games – staying silent and composed as her opponent’s shrieks echoed around under the roof.
But from 4-2 in the first-set tie-break a flurry of untimely errors from the Tunisian allowed Australian Open champion Sabalenka to take the opener.
Jabeur was visibly deflated at the start of the second and at 2-2, a forehand error and a double fault gifted the Belarusian a break of serve, despite the crowd’s best efforts to lift their player.
With the match slipping away, Jabeur came out on the wrong side of two gruelling points – the second of which left her flat on her back on the grass in disappointment – but she still managed to break back to level.
From 4-4 she won the next two games, the set sealed with a stunning backhand return winner after which she cupped her ear to a roaring crowd.
With the momentum behind her, Jabeur broke for 4-2 in the decider, despite two huge forehands from Sabalenka almost allowing her to wriggle free.
Two games later, Sabalenka saved match points with big serving but on her own serve, having seen two more chances slip away, Jabeur served an ace of her own to seal the win.
“It was very difficult with her shots and her serves,” Jabeur said.
“I’m very proud of myself because maybe the old me would have lost this match today and I would’ve been back home already.
Vondrousova ends Svitolina’s stunning run
Recent history has provided a number of shock Grand Slam finalists in the women’s singles, but Vondrousova’s progress is probably the biggest Wimbledon surprise since Eugenie Bouchard reached the 2014 final.
Vondrousova, ranked 42nd in the world, admitted before the semi-final she “never thought” she could do well on grass.
Clay courts have long been considered the Czech’s best surface and she reached the French Open final as a 19-year-old in 2019, losing on the red dirt to Australia’s Ashleigh Barty.
Since that Roland Garros final she has not gone past the last 16 at a Grand Slam and has had two wrist surgeries, the latest of which kept her out until last October.
“I didn’t play for six months last year and you never know if you can be at that level again,” Vondrousova said.
“I’m so grateful to be here, be healthy and be playing tennis again.”
Vondrousova has grown in belief during the grass-court major, cleaning out four seeded opponents before facing former world number three Svitolina.
That confidence was illustrated as she started strongly. Vondrousova targeted Svitolina’s backhand and reaped the rewards with two breaks of serve in a run of three games against serve to lead 4-3.
Vondrousova’s loopier forehand caused problems for Svitolina, who hits a flatter ball, and greater consistency from the baseline enabled her to break again in the ninth game to seal the set.
The run of Svitolina has been one of the storylines of the fortnight.
Not only is she coming back from giving birth to daughter Skai in October, the Ukrainian is also dealing with the emotional aspect of the war back home, which she says she has used as added motivation to win matches.
As usual, Svitolina showed her determination and will to win even when she fell 4-0 down in the second set and the match looked to be quickly running away from her.
But she clawed back one break – and then the other – providing herself with hope of a remarkable comeback.
However, Vondrousova managed to recover from her edginess to break again and held her nerve in a tense service game to secure victory.
