Jabeur first African tennis star in the US Open semifinals, Gauff is killed

The Tunisian Ons Jabeur has reached the semifinals of the US Open. She defeated Australian Ajla Tomljanovic in straight sets: 6-4, 7-6 (4). It is the first time that an African player has reached the semifinals in New York.

Jabeur now meets Caroline Garcia, who reached the last four for the first time after a victory over crowd favorite Cori Gauff (6-3, 6-4).

The fifth-seeded Jabeur was the better player, but made it difficult for herself in the second set.

Jabeur started strong and already broke Tomljanovic in the third game of the first set. After that, both players managed to make another break. The unseeded Tomljanovic (number 46 in the world ranking) did not get over that second service break. Jabeur simply served to win the set: 6-4.

Also in the second set, Jabeur initially showed herself to be the better player. She broke Tomljanovic right away. After that, the tension seemed to take hold on the Tunisian and that made it difficult for Jabeur to keep her service. Both players eventually gave up their serve three times during the second set.

In the tiebreak Tomljanovic hit a double foul at 4-3. Jabeur was then able to serve for the win.

Garcia was far too strong for Gauff and is only the third Frenchwoman in the last four in New York after Amélie Mauresmo (2002 and 2006) and Mary Pierce (2005).

28-year-old Garcia dictated the game from the start (4-0) and the not even bad playing Gauff simply didn’t get a chance to hurt her. Garcia already booked her thirteenth win in a row on the WTA tour, in New York she did not even lose a set.

There are two more quarterfinals on Wednesday evening. Then Karolina Pliskova takes on Aryna Sabalenka and world number 1 Iga Swiatek meets American Jessica Pegula.