Ons Jabeur doused Caroline Garcia’s red-hot streak with a breezy 6-1, 6-3 semifinal victory Thursday in New York to advance to the U.S. Open final.
The fifth seed from Tunisia will face either Polish No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek or Belarusian sixth seed Aryna Sabalenka, who were playing the other semifinal match Thursday night.
Jabeur set milestones for African women in July when she reached the final at Wimbledon, where she fell to Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina. Now she’ll get a second shot at her first Grand Slam title.
“After Wimbledon there was a lot of pressure on me,” Jabeur said Thursday in her on-court interview, “and I’m really relieved that I could back up my results.”
Jabeur was the first African or Arab woman to reach the U.S. Open semifinals in the Open era. When she made the Wimbledon final, her first Grand Slam final, it was a first for African and Arab women as well.
Jabeur held a 21-12 edge in winners and an 8-2 advantage in aces over Garcia, the French 17th seed who entered on a 13-match winning streak. Jabeur went 4-for-4 on break point opportunities and also benefited from Garcia’s 23 unforced errors.
The 28-year-old Jabeur won the opening set in 23 minutes. Though the second set was a bit more even, the match concluded in just 66 minutes.
“She (Garcia) comes in the court and puts a lot of pressure on my second serves,” Jabeur said. “I’m really glad she didn’t break me in the end — would have been really tough to go to 5-4.”
–Field Level Media