Ons Jabeur reaches her second consecutive Wimbledon final and will face Marketa Vondrousova

W I M B L E D O N , England (AP) Ons Jabeurcamebackfromaset and a break down to defeat Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 (5), 64, 6-3 yesterday and reach the Wimbledon final for the secondconsecutiveyear

Thiswillbethethirdtitle matchinthepastfiveGrand Slam tournaments for Jabeur

The 25-year-old from Tunisiaalreadywastheonly ArabwomanandonlyNorth African woman to get to a majorfinal.

So far, she is 0-2 at that stage after losing to Elena Rybakina at theAll England Club last July and to Iga SwiatekattheU.S.Openlast September

The sixth-seeded Jabeur’s victory yesterday, whichcamebycollecting10 of the last 13 games, preventedthesecond-seeded Sabalenka from replacing Swiatek at No. 1 in the rankings. Sabalenka came into the match with a 17-1 record at majors in 2023, including a trophy at the AustralianOpen.

Jabeur’sopponentforthe championship on Saturday w i l l b e M a r k e t a Vondrousova.

Vondrousovabecamethe first unseeded women’s finalist at Wimbledon since Billie Jean King in 1963 by eliminating Elina Svitolina 6-3,6-3earlieryesterday

Jabeur trailed 4-2 in the secondsetwhenshebeganto turn things around. But not before Sabalenka came within a point from leading 5-3 after Jabeur put a forehandintothenetandfell ontoherbackonthegrassof CentreCourt.

She dusted herself off and broke to take that game andbeginherbigcomeback.

When she delivered a backhand return winner to forcethematchtoathirdset, Jabeur held her right index finger to her ear, then raised it and wagged it as she struttedtothechangeover Sabalenka’sshotsmissed the mark repeatedly down thestretch:Shefinishedwith 45 unforced errors to 14 for Jabeur

AbreakputJabeurup4-2 buttherewasstillsomework to be done. Sabalenka, as powerful a ball-striker as there is on tour, erased four match points before Jabeur converted her fifth with a 103mphace.

In the first semifinal, Vondrousova reeled off seven consecutive games in one stretch. She is ranked 43rdandreachedthesecond Grand Slam final of her careeraftergettingthatfaras ateenageratthe2019French Open.“Iwascrazynervous,” said Vondrousova, who bowed her head and knelt at thebaselinewhenthematch was over “I was nervous, actually,thewholematch.”

Ranked No. 76 and recipient, Svitolina returned to the tour from maternity leave just three months ago. After surprisingly beating Swiatek in the quarterfinals, shewastryingtobecomethe firstwomanfromUkraineto makeittothetitlematchata majortennistournamentand received loud support from thousands in the crowd, the applause and yells echoing off the closed Centre Court roof. “She’s such a fighter,” said Vondrousova, who compileda22-9edgeintotal winners,“andshe’salsosuch agreatperson.”

Svitolina has said that she is playing more freely and more calmly nowadays, something she attributed to having the dual motivations of playing for her baby daughter, who was born in October, and of trying to bring happiness to people in her home country, where an ongoing war began with R

February2022.