Sawt Falasteen - Jabeur beats champion Rybakina to reach Wimbledon semis

In a repeat of the 2022 title match, the Tunisian sixth seed beat her third-ranked opponent 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-1 on Centre Court.

The 28-year-old will face Belarusian second seed Aryna Sabalenka for a place in Saturday's final at the All England Club.

"I'm very happy with the performance -- a lot of emotion out there, especially playing someone that serves really well," she said.

"It's frustrating to return but I'm glad I did everything, shouted, got angry, then got calm and focused and hopefully I can manage my emotions like this for the next two matches."

Rybakina was first to pounce, breaking to love in the fourth game when Jabeur went wide with a backhand but the Tunisian hit back immediately.

Jabeur took advantage of a loose volley at the net from Rybakina to break again and edge into a 6-5 lead.

But this time she was the player who failed to consolidate, squandering a set point as Rybakina forced a tie-break, which she won.

The Kazakh survived break points in the second game of the second set while Jabeur was forced to dig deep on her serve to move into a 3-2 lead.

Both players held serve until the 10th game, when Rybakina cracked and Jabeur levelled the match.

The force was with Jabeur in the decider as she opened up a 3-0 lead and saved two break points to move 4-1 ahead.

Jabeur powered a backhand down the line to break once again and held her serve to seal the win, letting out a roar of delight.

A.Suleiman--SF-PST