Wimbledon: Ons Jabeur becomes first Arab player to reach a Grand Slam semifinal

Tunisian third seed Ons Jabeur, the highest surviving seed in the women’s draw, recovered from losing her first set at this year’s Wimbledon to beat Czech Marie Bouzkova 3-6 6-1 6-1 on Tuesday and reach her maiden Grand Slam semifinal.

Jabeur became the first Arab player — man or woman — to reach a Grand Slam semi final.

Since going down in the opening round at this year’s Roland Garros in a shock defeat, Jabeur has won 10 straight matches on grass, having arrived at the All England Club with a title in Berlin in the lead-up.

Currently playing at her highest career ranking of second, Jabeur will meet the 103rd-ranked Tatjana Maria, who earlier beat fellow German Jule Niemeier, for a place in Saturday’s final.

Playing in her second straight Wimbledon quarterfinal, Jabeur in the first set failed to find a way past the stoic defence of the 66th-ranked Bouzkova, who never made it past the second round of a Grand Slam before this year’s championships.

The 23-year-old Bouzkova broke twice to take the opening set but Jabeur, bidding to become the first Arab woman to win a major, came roaring back to level the match with three breaks in the second.

Riding on the momentum, Jabeur again broke twice to rack up a 4-0 lead and win eight straight games before the Czech halted the juggernaut by getting a break back.

It proved to be only a minor hiccup for Jabeur who picked up another break in the next game and then held serve to love to seal the contest on her first match point.

Earlier, British ninth-seed Cameron Norrie reached his first Grand Slam semifinal when he twice came from behind to beat unseeded Belgian David Goffin 3-6 7-5 2-6 6-3 7-5 on Tuesday to set up a dream Wimbledon meeting with Novak Djokovic.

Having come into the match full of confidence after successive straight-set wins, Norrie was surprisingly ragged in the first set. He rallied to take the second but then managed only two points in the first four games of the third as Goffin, also looking to make the last four at a major for the first time, took it without having to do anything extraordinary.

The Belgian was on court for four and a half hours in getting past Frances Tiafoe on Sunday and began to look a little tired in the fourth as Norrie upped his own intensity to level the match, much to the delight of a packed Number One Court.

There was little in it as they battled to 5-5 in the fifth set when Norrie somehow found an extra gear to blast through a service break to love and then served out safely to secure the biggest win of his career.