Tunisian Anas Jaber became the first Arab and the first African to reach the final of a major tennis tournament, with her reaching the final of Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam tournament, by defeating German Tatiana Maria 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 on Thursday.
Jaber, 27, ranked second in the world, will seek to win the first major championship in her career on Saturday, when she faces Romanian 18th seed Simona Halep and 2019 champion, or Kazakhstan’s 23rd Elena Rybakina.
“I am proud to be a Tunisian woman standing here,” Jaber said after the match, after she became the first Arab to reach the final of a major tournament for both women and men.
Before Jaber’s victory on Thursday, the two South African players, Erin Powder-Peacock in the French Open in 1927, and Rene Schurmann in the Australian Open in 1959, were the only two African players to reach the Grand Slam final, in the amateur era that became professional in 1968.
“It is a dream come true with years of work and sacrifice. I am happy that it paid off and I will continue to work for another match,” Jaber added.
“Physically Tatiana is a monster, she doesn’t give up, I thought she would, her touch, her serve and everything on the court is impressive. I hope she continues like this. Let’s not fight again, I’m good for now.”
“I know people are going crazy in Tunisia now. I want to see more Arab and African players in the tournament. I love the game and I want to share the experience with them,” she added.
Jaber managed to overcome the first group in front of Maria, her personal friend, who gave birth to her second child 15 months ago.
And Maria, who celebrates her 35th birthday next month and who has never before Wimbledon 2022, started the match by going beyond the third round in the “Grand Slam”, winning by serving before the Tunisian responded to her and tied the ball 1-1, to come back and break the German’s serve to advance 2- 1 and then 3-1, while the latter remained in the atmosphere of the competition with a difficult victory over her serve 3-2.
Jaber settled the sixth game in her favour, 4-2, to return and repeat the break of her opponent’s serve and lead 5-2, before winning the first set in her favour, in 38 minutes.
Like the first, Maria started the second by winning her serve, and Jaber responded with a 1-1 draw, before forcing her opponent to resist strongly by losing the opportunity to decide the serve twice, so Maria rose up and regained control and advanced 2-1.
Maria returned and broke the Tunisian serve to make the score 3-1, then 4-1 before Jaber won her second game in the group and reduced the difference to 2-4.
Despite the high style of the Tunisian, Maria prevented her from returning to the group atmosphere to win by serving and advancing 5-2, before winning it 6-3 after a direct error in the net from the Tunisian.
Jaber started the decisive third set strongly, winning her serve, then breaking the 103rd world-ranked serve to advance 2-0, then 3-0, 4-0 after a new break, then 5-0.
The German snatched an honorary half, before Jaber settled the seventh game in her favour, winning the group and the match.