The Tunisian Ons Jabeur, sixth favorite, maintained her winning streak in the Chicago Fall Classic by beating the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina this Friday in two straight sets of 6-4 and 6-2. first seeded, and get a pass to the semifinal. Jabeur had never beaten Svitolina before in the three previous opportunities they had faced, but the fourth game came at the height of his professional career with a dream season. Jabeur, who entered the Chicago Fall Tennis Classic in career-best 16th place, fell behind 4-1 in the first set before completing the comeback and securing a place in the semifinals.
The Tunisian won her 43rd of the year, tying her with second-ranked in the world, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka for the best mark on the WTA Tour. Jabeur went 0-3 against Svitolina, last losing in 2019 in Dubai. “I’m glad I’m learning from my losses against her or any other player. The most important thing is the hard work over the years. I am a different player right now,” stated Jabeur. “I have played many games, I have much more experience, how to handle stress, opportunities and it is incredible to see that it is paying off“.
Jabeur became the first Arab tournament winner in WTA history in June in Birmingham, England.. Beyond being able to lift the trophy in Chicago, Jabeur’s goal is to reach the WTA Finals next month in Guadalajara, Mexico. “Knowing that I can be the first Arab to qualify, it’s really amazing, you know, and it’s more stressful for me,” she said. Jabeur will play the semifinal against the fifth seed, the Kazakh Elena Rybakina, who was in front of the partial score of 6-4 and 3-1 when her rival in the quarterfinals, the Swiss Belinda Bencic, third favorite, and Olympic gold medalist at Tokyo 2020, he had to retire with a right knee injury.
In the other semi-final, the two-time Grand Slam champion, the Spanish Garbiñe Muguruza, second favorite, will face the runner-up of the French Open 2019, the Czech Marketa Vondrousova. Muguruza beat the tournament’s young revelation, Japan’s Mai Hontama, 22, 6-3 6-2 in one hour and 40 minutes, who had reached her first tournament main draw through qualifying. . In pursuit of her second title of the year, Muguruza will be at least fresher than her next opponent. Vondrousova defeated the American Danielle Collins, tenth seed, 6-7 (4), 6-0, 7-6 (3) in a match that lasted 2 hours and 32 minutes.