History awaits either Marketa Vondrousova or Ons Jabeur on Wimbledon’s Centre Court on Saturday as the pair go to battle for what will be a first Grand Slam title for whoever emerges victorious.
The pair have delivered some absolutely incredible tennis over the past two weeks and have fully merited their place in Saturday’s showpiece, which is set up to be a grand occasion in south-west London.
Both stars have taken impressive routes to the final. Last year’s finalist Jabeur has become the first player to defeat three top-10 opponents in the same edition of Wimbledon since Serena Williams in 2012. She toppled major champions Bianca Andreescu, Petra Kvitova, reigning champion Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka to get to a second successive Wimbledon final.
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Not only is she showing her quality on grass once again but she is making amends for last year, when she didn’t have quite enough to become the first female North African, Arab and Muslim Grand Slam champion.
Jabeur’s quarter-final showdown against Rybakina was a huge test of her character. Heading into that match it did look like Rybakina was going to be unstoppable once again, and Jabeur even went a set down before managing to turn the match on its head.
That was one of her best performances to date and she followed it up with another great display against Sabalenka to book her place in the final. After losing the opening set of the semi-final via tiebreak, Jabeur was one point away from going 5-3 down in the second set before swinging the momentum in her favour to register back-to-back comeback victories.
She will be feeling confident ahead of the final, but so will Czech star Vondrousova, who has become the first unseeded female finalist at Wimbledon in the Open Era. She may not have toppled as many big-hitters as Jabeur but she did defeat a top-10 seed herself in the quarter-finals by beating Jessica Pegula.
Vondrousova will also be boosted by her two victories over Jabeur this year at the Australian Open and Indian Wells. Jabeur may have been hampered by injury at the time but it won’t matter to Vondrousova, who will view those recent triumphs as a huge psychological advantage. This will be her second Grand Slam final appearance, with her last coming at the French Open in 2019.
Wimbledon will see a brand new champion crowned on Saturday and it looks like we will get a cracker of a final on Centre Court given how brilliantly the two finalists have played over the past two weeks.
