Ons Jabeur and Marketa Vondrousova will meet in Saturday's final of Wimbledon Championships 2023. The Tunisian has came back from being a set down in her semifinal's clash against Aryna Sabalenka to achieve her second consecutive appearance in Wimbledon's final, winning by 6-7(5) 6-4 6-3. Vondrousova needed just two sets to defeat Elina Svitolina with a score 6-3 6-3. It's the second career's Grand Slam final for the Czech after Roland Garros in 2017.
Jabeur comes back to deny the new world's number one
This was a match for a big stake, as apart from the prize in form of advance into Wimbledon's final, Sabalenka was also one match away from overtaking Iga Swiatek in the WTA rankings to become the new world's number one, regardless of the outcome of possible appearance in the final. The opening set was a great hitting performance with 30 scored by both the players, who approached the tiebreak without losing any service game. Jabeur was the first one to gain a minibreak advantage, but Sabalenka dominated the decisive part of 13th game to clinch the first set.
The Belarusian was playing with a great confidence after gaining the set advantage and managed to set herself up in the driver's seat to win the whole thing in straight sets after being 4-2 up in second set. Sabalenka had a chance to add another hold while being one point away from 5-3 lead, but Jabeur put the pressure on her opponent and earned her first break this afternoon. It was the moment which turned over this match, as Sabalenka lost her confidence, while Jabeur was trusting her strikes more and more, which resulted with another break and the win of the Tunisian in second set.
The image of play has not changed too much in the decider, as Jabeur was still a dominant force. Last year's Wimbledon's runner-up did not allow her opponent to create any single breakpoint. Jabeur needed 5 opportunities to close the match, while having matchpoints during Sabalenka's service game and making the job done in the following game within own serve. The Tunisian finished the match with an impressive ratio of 28 winners to just 14 unforced errors. Sabalenka was trying to realize her main gameplay with strong striking, which resulted with 39 winners, but the world's number two commited as many as 45 unforced errors at the same time. Today's lose means, that Sabalenka will not take the lead in WTA rankings at the end of the Championships despite being so close to make it in second set with just two games away to clinch the victory.
Vondrousova overplays Svitolina
The match-up between Vondrousova and Svitolina, which has started today's action at the Centre Court, was expected to be no less exciting one. There was no clear pre-match favorite between two of the players, who impress with stories of great comeback to compete at the top level. Svitolina gave a birth to her first child just a few months ago, while Vondrousova has lost almost whole the previous year, dealing with injury issues. Both have performed upsets on top class players in the quarters, as Svitolina eliminated Iga Swiatek and Vondrousova made a great comeback against the world's number 4, Jessica Pegula, as she turned over the match from being 1-4 down in decisive set.
This was a statement of the highest level presented by both the players, but the level of their semifinal's clash could disappoint a little bit. The match started with easy service holds till the score 2-2, when Vondrousova started to overplay her opponent. Svitolina was clearly lacking the consistency, which helped her to surpass Swiatek in the QF two days ago. The Ukrainian could not find the sufficient answer for the strength of Vondrousova and was vulnerable on serve, losing 5 own games in a row and 6 out of 9 throughout whole the match in general.
Vondrousova has capitalized on a good gameplan and the weaknesses of her opponent, living the momentum which gave her 7 games won in a row, which helped her to clinch the first set and moved up into 4-0 in second one. The Czech was even leading 40-0 in 5th game within own serve, but some nerves have started showing up on her side, as Svitolina has surprisingly came back to this match. The Ukrainian won 3 games in a row to come back level on serve, showing a great spirit despite being 0-4 0-40 down at one point.
When the amazing comeback has started to be in the making, Vondrousova regrouped herself very well and regained her advantage, adding another break and crossing the line with the first opportunity to close the match after just 76 minutes of play. The stats have referred the average quality of this match, as both the players had negative ratio between winners and unforced errors. Especially the numbers from Svitolina were explaining her lack of good form at this particular day, as she scored just 9 winners in compare to just 24 unforced errors. Vondrousova presented a better performance with 22 winners on her account.
