Wimbledon: OnsJabeur beats Sabalenka to reach back-to-back Wimbledon final

Two games from defeat, No.6 seed Ons Jabeur rallied for a three-set win over No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka to return to the Wimbledon final.

Ons Jabeur is back into the Wimbledon final, and she did it the hard way. Two games from defeat, the No.6 seed rallied for a 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 win over No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka on Centre Court to book a place in her third career Grand Slam final and second straight at the All England Club.

Jabeur is the first woman to reach back-to-back finals at Wimbledon since Serena Williams in 2018-19. Williams lost both of those matches, and Jabeur will seek to avoid that fate when she faces Czech left-hander Marketa Vondrousova in Saturday’s final — the first unseeded Wimbledon women’s finalist in the Open Era.

“Yeah, last year was my first final of a Grand Slam,” Jabeur said. “Definitely getting closer to winning the Grand Slam that I always wished.

“I would say I always believed. But sometimes you would question and doubt it if it’s going to happen, if it’s ever going to happen. Being in the last stages, I think it does help you believe more.”

For the second straight match at Wimbledon — she also rallied from a set down in a rematch of the 2022 final to beat Elena Rybakina in the quarters — Jabeur came from behind for a three-set victory. With wins over Rybakina, Sabalenka and Petra Kvitova this fortnight, Jabeur is the first woman to defeat three Top 10 players at Wimbledon since Williams in 2012.