Jabeur breaks record to become first Tunisian woman to make WTA final

Ons Jabeur made history on Friday when she became the first Tunisian woman to reach a WTA final by seeing off Latvian fifth seed Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

Jabeur, ranked 101st in the world and who came through qualifying, prevailed in one hour 37 minutes.

“This is really amazing and I’m really happy. I gave it all today, and it wasn’t easy because she plays really good,” said 24-year-old Jabeur, who unleashed 45 winners on her way to victory.

“Maybe I was too relaxed in the second set. At the end, I stayed calm. It was a little bit frustrating because I missed some easy balls, but I said I was just going to play my game, and if it goes, it goes.”

In Saturday’s final, Jabeur will face sixth-seeded Daria Kasatkina of Russia, last year’s runner-up, who put out Britain’s Johanna Konta 6-4, 6-3.

“They’re both playing good, so I hope they fight for four hours,” Jabeur said. “The best win is that there is a Tunisian in the final.”

Jabeur lost her only career meeting against Kasatkina at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

“She (Jabeur) plays interesting tennis with plenty of drop shots, often advances to the net,” Kasatkina said.

“Everything is possible in tomorrow’s final and I will just come onto the court and try to play my best.”

In the ATP event, France’s Adrian Mannarino ended Egor Gerasimov’s run beating the Belarus qualifier 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 to set up a semi-final with Italy’s Andreas Seppi, who ousted fourth seeded Serb Filip Krajinovic 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).

Second seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia beat last year’s runner-up Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 will face third-seeded compatriot Karen Khachanov, who saw off Mirza Basic of Bosnia 6-2, 7-6 (7/5).