There are times when a locksmith just won’t do. Having seen Garbiñe Muguruza and Iga Swiatek struggle to unpick the tennis riddle that is Ons Jabeur, Aryna Sabalenka turned up on Centre Court with a battering ram. It has long been the Belarusian’s weapon of choice, but she has not always deployed it with the required accuracy and control. This time was different; this time Sabalenka channelled her power with purpose, intensity and forethought, crushing Jabeur’s box of tricks before the Tunisian could even lift the lid. Her reward was a 6-4, 6-3 victory and a semi-final appointment with Karolina Pliskova.
Sabalenka has struggled until now to translate her dominant form on the WTA Tour into success at the grand slams, but this was a performance of real conviction. Having progressed to the quarter-finals of a major for the first time with a three-set victory over Elena Rybakina, Sabalenka played with the freedom and belief of a player born for the big stage. Her forceful hitting from the back of the court denied Jabeur the time to deploy the drop shots and variations of pace and spin that have wreaked such havoc in the lower quarter, while her serve was virtually unplayable at times, Sabalenka winning 83% of the points behind her first delivery. The predicament facing Jabeur was encapsulated by the opening game of the second set, in which she drilled a forehand return winner to earn three break points only for Sabalenka to snuff out the danger with a barrage of penetrating serves and searing groundstrokes.
“The plan was to be aggressive from the beginning and change the rhythm if I could, because I know she can hit really hard,” said Jabeur. “The thing is, I wasn’t really expecting her to serve well from the beginning to the end. You can have momentum when you serve good, but then you can just make like second serves. But her second serves are also amazing. It was kind of difficult for me to be on the edge all the time.”
Jabeur fought tenaciously, just as she had done in clawing her way back from the loss of the opening set in the previous two rounds, and having been broken early in the second set she quickly got back on level terms. Had she converted a break point at 2-2, the match might even have taken a different turn. But her return teetered on the net tape before falling on her side of the court, and from there Sabalenka was irresistible. It has nonetheless been an unforgettable tournament for Jabeur, who endeared herself to the British public with her shot-making and charisma, and beat a trio of former major champions in Venus Williams, Muguruza and Swiatek to become the first Arab or North African player to make the last eight since Ismail El Shafei in 1974. The Tunisian leaves SW19 with renewed belief that she belongs in the latter stages of slams, and an ever-deepening clarity about how best to deploy her dazzling repertoire of shots.
Sabalenka, meanwhile, can reflect with satisfaction on a performance in which she showed unwavering belief in her game to finally draw a line under a litany of grand slam disappointments. “My best moment so far,” she said. “The only thing I was thinking about was my game and to stay focused and fight for every point and every opportunity I had. It’s surprising, but I didn’t feel that pressure of being in the quarter-finals for the first time. I was enjoying the atmosphere and enjoying my game and just doing everything I could to win the match. It was a great performance for me.
“[Before] I was struggling on the grand slams with all the emotions going through. After every slam I was so disappointed about myself that I can’t handle this pressure. I actually thought that I would never make it to the second week. We worked a lot with my psychologist and with my coach. I’m really happy that here in Wimbledon I’m in the second week, I’m still in the tournament, and I still have this opportunity to win a slam. I will do everything I can to reach my goal.”
If Sabalenka is to achieve that goal, she will first have to get past Pliskova, the eighth seed, who reached her first semi-final at the All England Club with a 6-2, 6-2 demolition of Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland. Pliskova had lost the only previous meeting between the pair, at a Fed Cup match in Lucerne five years ago, but with her serve in fine fettle and her movement sharper than it has ever been on the Wimbledon grass, the Czech had far too much for the 66th-ranked Golubic.
“After not really having many good weeks before Wimbledon, it feels like a dream a bit,” said Pliskova, who has yet to drop a set. “Anyway, I believed at some point I would find my game. I’m just happy it worked out well in these two weeks. Of course, it was my last grand slam missing the semi-final, so I’m happy now I have all of them.”
There was no such good news for Pliskova’s compatriot Karolina Muchova, who was beaten 6-2, 6-3 by former champion Angelique Kerber. The resurgent German, whose confidence was buoyed by a title win on grass last month in Bad Homburg, goes through to her fourth Wimbledon semi-final. She is the only player still standing who has previously reached the last four. “Having, of course, the confidence from the last week, coming here with a title in my bag, gives me also confidence that grass is really my surface,” said Kerber, 33. “I’m coming [back] after a really tough time. I was not playing good the last few months. Now winning last week a tournament at home, now playing well here again, that means a lot to me.”
Kerber will face Ashleigh Barty in the last four after the top seed beat Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1, 6-3 in the first all-Australian quarter-final at the All England Club since Evonne Goolagong defeated Wendy Turnbull in 1980. “Against Ash, I know that I have to play my best tennis,” said Kerber. “She has a lot of confidence right now. She played well. I know that I have to play my own game. I have to just think how to play, be aggressive, and try to take the match more in my hands and go for it.”