Ons Jabeur dragged herself back from the precipice and the British monarchy out of a major diplomatic headache to reach the Wimbledon final.
Her stunning 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 win over Aryna Sabalenka brought joy to Centre Court and a huge sigh of relief to the tournament organisers. The scenes of near-total euphoria at the end were a marked contrast to the consternation midway through when Sabalenka was a set and a break to the good.
The Belarusian No 2 seed looked on an unshakeable course to kick up the political storm Wimbledon and its royal patron had always feared. Last year, Sabalenka was one of a number of players banned as Wimbledon took a stance against countries supporting Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Even this year, players from Russia and Belarus were only allowed back under sufferance somewhat when pressure was applied by the ATP and WTA. A Sabalenka win would have set up a political minefield – a final berth against Marketa Vondrousova on Saturday with the Princess of Wales not only expected to be in attendance but tasked with handing over the prizes to both players.
Who knows what traction Putin would have dragged from the heir to the throne’s wife handing over a trophy to the Minsk-born native of Russia’s closest ally? Certainly, it was clear from the start that the majority of the Centre Court crowd were in Jabeur’s corner.
An intense first set saw both players hit powerful winners and after Jabeur saved a break point in each of her first two service games, neither player gave their opponent even a sniff of another chance. The inevitable tie-break hinged on the ninth point when Jabeur’s forehand drive was called long. The Tunisian challenged immediately and Hawkeye showed the call was correct by about a millimetre and Sabalenka had the mini-break.
Three points later she had secured the first set. The intensity continued for the opening four games of the second set and then out of nowhere Jabeur was broken to love with a double fault.
However, even when Sabalenka cemented her advantage by completing a run of 10 successive points to take a 4-2 advantage, still Jabeur refused to be beaten.
A double fault at the end of the eighth game was Sabalenka’s first sign of nerves and it was Jabeur standing fist raised when a loose backhand from the Australian Open champion got her back level again. More importantly, Jabeur had momentum and a brilliant backhand return on set point took the match into a decider and though the 28-year-old cupped her hand to her ear it was hard to imagine the atmosphere getting much louder.
Sabalenka saved two break points in a mammoth sixth game but hit long on the third and for the first time Jabeur was in control. Sabalenka saved four match points but when the deed was finally done, she struck a smile so broad it seemed shared by the whole of Britain.
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