Swiatek, Jabeur in first US Open final for both players

NEW YORK (AP):

Getting to a Grand Slam final is no longer new to Ons Jabeur. She figures it’s time to add a major trophy to her list of groundbreaking accomplishments.

And she’s sure she is more ready to do it at the US Open than she was at Wimbledon two months ago.

Jabeur reached a second consecutive Slam title match without needing to produce her best tennis on Thursday night, taking full advantage of a shaky showing by Caroline Garcia to win their semifinal at Flushing Meadows 6-1, 6-3.

“Feels more real, to be honest with you, just to be in the final again. At Wimbledon, I was kind of just living the dream, and I couldn’t believe it,” Jabeur said after ending No. 17 Garcia’s 13-match winning streak, which included a victory over Coco Gauff. “Now maybe I know what to do.”

Today, at 3 p.m. (Jamaica time), with a championship on the line, Jabeur will go up against No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek, who grabbed the last four games, and 16 of the last 20 points, to come back and beat No. 6 Aryna Sabalenka 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

The first step for Swiatek to turn things around came when she headed to the locker room after the first set – to use the bathroom and think about what to adjust on court.

“I needed to get it together,” said Swiatek, a 21-year-old from Poland who already owns two trophies from the French Open’s red clay, including one this June, but never had been past the fourth round on New York’s hard courts.

Swiatek has emerged as a dominant figure in women’s tennis, with a 37-match winning streak that brought her six titles in one stretch. If she can defeat Jabeur, Swiatek will become the first woman since Angelique Kerber in 2016 to win two majors in one season.

The No. 5-seeded Jabeur, a 28-year-old from Tunisia, was the runner-up at the All England Club in July and now will be the first African woman to participate in a final at the US Open in the professional era, which dates to 1968.

“After Wimbledon, (there was) a lot of pressure on me,” Jabeur said following a win that took barely more than an hour, “and I’m really relieved that I can back up my results.”

With four-time major champion Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in her guest box – they traded thumbs-up signals at match’s end – Jabeur improved to 6-0 in semifinals this season and earned her tour-leading 92nd victory in all since the start of 2021. No. 91 came when she defeated Ajla Tomljanovic, who eliminated Serena Williams in the third round.

To Jabeur’s surprise, and delight, she heard Tuesday’s victory over Tomljanovic was drawing viewers back home, even though there was also a Champions League game between Juventus and Paris St Germain on TV.

“In Tunisia, it’s all about football,” she said. “But people were not watching (that) game, they were watching my game, which is impressive to me.”

Just one example of how she is changing views about tennis in her country – and on a continent.