A year and a day on from her defeat by Elena Rybakina in the Wimbledon final, Ons Jabeur set up a shot at revenge.
The Tunisian swept aside two-time champion Petra Kvitova in just over an hour, winning 6-0, 6-3 on Centre Court to reach the quarter-finals for the third year in a row.
Jabeur’s reward is a last-eight clash with Rybakina on Wednesday, who she joked “stole” her title with a three-set win 12 months ago. The motivation is clear.
“I’m probably going for my revenge,” Jabeur said. “It was a difficult final last year, it’s going to bring back a lot of memories. She’s an amazing player, and you can see she’s ‘boom boom’ all the time. She has no mercy.”
That is certainly an accurate description of Rybakina, whose immediate celebration after beating Jabeur resembled more someone making the last train than a player securing their first Grand Slam title.
There is a ruthlessness behind her understated nature, though. No women’s player has won a higher percentage of points behind their first serve in the tournament. The defending champion, through after Beatriz Haddad Maia retired with injury during the first set yesterday, rarely requires a particularly subtle gameplan.
Jabeur will bring her usual array of slices, drop shots and everything in between to counter that brute force, and take what she hopes is another step towards a hurdle she is yet to clear. The 28-year-old was beaten in last year’s US Open final by Iga Swiatek, two months on from her Wimbledon disappointment.
Jabeur’s demeanour has seen her labelled the ‘Minister of Happiness’ in Tunisia, a title even she cannot always live up to. The sixth seed said after beating Kvitova that she is “stressed or even scared” at times on court, so great is her desire to win one of tennis’s biggest prizes. Just as well she is fuelled by a sense of destiny.
“When I picked up the racket, it’s like I was born to play tennis,” Jabeur said. “I was born to just achieve this dream.”
