Ons Jabeur and Marketa Vondrousova will meet in Saturday’s Wimbledon women’s final, helping the All England avoid a potentially embarrassing diplomatic headache.
Tunisian world number six Jabeur fought back from a set and 4-2 down to defeat Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-3 to reach a second successive final at the tournament.
Czech left-hander Vondrousova ended Elina Svitolina’s dream of delivering a Grand Slam title for Ukraine with a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win, becoming the first unseeded woman to make the final in 60 years.
Had Sabalenka gone on to win the title on Saturday, she would have received the trophy from Princess Catherine, the wife of the heir to the British throne, a year after all Belarusian and Russian players were banned from the tournament following the invasion of Ukraine.
Belarus is a key ally of Moscow.
Sabalenka, 25, playing in her fourth successive Grand Slam semi-final and sixth in total, recovered from 2/4 down in the tiebreak to clinch the first set.
She also unleashed the fastest women’s serve at Wimbledon this year with a 121 mph (194.7 km/h) rocket.
Sabalenka, who had defeated Jabeur on her way to the last four at Wimbledon in 2021, broke for a 3-2 lead in the second set.
That stretched to 4-2 before Jabeur hit back from the brink to reel off the next four games and level the contest.
