By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, September 6, 2022
Ons Jabeur beat Ajla Tomljanovic 6-4, 7-6(4) to reach her second straight major semifinal and become the first African woman to make the US Open final four.
Photo credit: Getty
NEW YORK—Minister of Happiness Ons Jabeur played delightful disruptor on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Disrupting Ajla Tomljanovic's timing with her unsettling variety, Jabeur scored a 6-4, 7-6(4) triumph to make history as the first African woman in the Open Era to advance to the US Open semifinals.
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Wimbledon finalist Jabeur has won 11 of her last 12 major matches as she takes aim at a maiden major championship.
"I know physically it's gonna be a tough match," Jabeur told ESPN's Pam Shriver in her on-court interview afterward. "Even emotionally it was kind of tough to manage the frustration because when you have breaks you want to fiinish.
"But she keeps fighting and she makes it tough for me. I'm just trying to do my job and hopefully, like you said, I will inspire more and more generations from Africa. It really means a lot to me."
The fifth-seeded Jabeur will red-hot Cincinnati champion Caroline Garcia for a spot in Saturday's final.
The 17th-seeded Garcia swept French Open finalist Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-4. Garcia has permitted just 27 games in five tournament wins joining Amelie Mauresmo and Mary Pierce as the third Frenchwoman to reach the US Open final four in the Open Era.
The Tunisian trailblazer imposed her all-court acumen throughout. Nicknamed "Minister of Happiness" by fans in her home country, the perpetually-positive Jabeur showed signs of stress bouncing her Wilson racquet a couple of times. But at crunch time, Jabeur was the calmer competitor in the second-set tiebreaker.
"I think I'm gonna be fired from my job as Minister of Happiness," Jabeur joked afterward. "It's sometimes tough to manage the frustation. Tennis is a tough sport.
"I apologize for my behavior. I really wanted to keep calm but the racquet kept slipping away from my hand."
Mixing some short slice approaches with banging backhands down the line, Jabeur won 18 of 24 trips to net and converted five of six break points.
Though she served an unsightly 40 percent, Jabeur found her first serve in the tiebreaker and was was the aggressor for much of the match played beneath the closed retractable roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Mixing some crackling forehands with soft touch off her backhand, Jabeur more than doubled Tomljanovic's winner total (29 to 12). Jabeur advanced to her second straight major semifinal after failing to reach a Grand Slam final four in her first 20 majors.
Bursting out of the blocks quickly, Jabeur rolled through three games in a row for a 3-1 lead. The pair traded breaks in the sixth and seventh games. Jabeur eight of her last 11 service points to snatch a one-set lead.
Contesting her first US Open quarterfinal, Tomljanovic showed the grit she displayed staring down 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams and muting the more than 23,000 rabid Serena supporters in her three-hour third-round victory over the former world No. 1.
The 46th-ranked Aussie spent three hours longer on court than Jabeur to reach this quarterfinal and wasn't quite as sharp in the running exchanges.
Still, a tough Tomljanovic recovered from a set and a break down reeling off five of the next six games.
Tomljanovic was beating Jabeur in forehand exchanges. The Aussie drew a floated forehand error breaking with her fourth consecutive game for 5-3.
Serving to force a decider, Tomljanovic tightened up dumping a double fault to give back the break in the ninth game.
Deadlocked at 3-all in the tiebreaker, Tomljanovic tightened up and Jabeur was swinging more freely. A tight Tomljanovic put a forehand into net then pasted her ninth double fault into net gifting Jabeur a pair of mini breaks and a 5-3 lead.
When Tomljanovic missed a backhand down the line, the pair engaged in a warm embrace at net.