After her Wimbledon quarter-final on Wednesday, Ons Jabeur said she wished she could swap that revenge win over Elena Rybakina for victory in last year's final. Maybe she can have both.
That's because, 24 hours after eliminating the defending champion in a rematch of last year's titanic title battle, Jabeur is through to her second successive Wimbledon final after a thrilling 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory over the fearsome second seed Aryna Sabalenka.
Having neutralised the menacing weapons of Rybakina, Jabeur was again confronted with another of the tour's most powerful players. Yet once again, the Tunisian stared down the danger, using her guile and artistry, and – perhaps most importantly – her newfound mental fortitude to battle back and secure a remarkable win.
“I’m working a lot with my mental coach on this and it's helped me a lot," Jabeur, 28, said. "I'm very proud of myself because maybe old me would have lost the match and be back home already. I'm glad I was able to dig deep and find the strength.”
Dig deep she did. There was nothing between the two players during a fiercely-contested opening set and it was Jabeur who took first advantage in the tiebreak to lead 4-2 after a spectacular gliding passing shot down the line. But when Sabalenka edged ahead at 5-4, Jabeur's composure appeared to momentarily slip, slapping herself on the thigh a few times in frustration. She hit the next point into the net to give Sabalenka set point, which the Belarusian seized for a one-set lead.
When Jabeur was broken in the second set and trailed 4-2, it appeared the writing was on the wall. But that would be to discount the Tunisian's new resolve, and after levelling at 4-4, it was Jabeur who was largely in control for the remainder of the match.
Four straight games sealed the second set for Jabeur, who then claimed the all-important break in the decider to lead 4-2. She had two match points with Sabalenka serving at 2-5, but the Belarusian held firm to force the world No 6 to serve out the victory.
Having eased into a 40-0 lead and roared on by the Centre Court crowd, a few nerves surfaced as two more match points came and went but there was no denying Jabeur on the fifth, a laser-like ace catching the line to send the Tunisian into the final.
“Thank you to the crowd for keeping me in the match because it was very difficult accepting her serves and shots, so thank you guys for cheering for me until the last moment and believing in me," said Jabeur, who becomes the first woman since Serena Williams in 2019 to reach successive Wimbledon finals.
When Jabeur navigated her way to the final last year, she took advantage of a somewhat fortuitous draw as seeded players dropped out in the earlier stages of the tournament. That's certainly not been the case this year, though, as Jabeur eliminated four major champions - Bianca Andreescu, Petra Kvitova, Rybakina, and Sabalenka - en route to the final.
Jabeur next faces another tough challenge if she's to finally land her first Grand Slam title. Marketa Vondrousova may not be a major champion but she has beaten Jabeur twice this year, including at the Australian Open at the start of the season.
"Marketa is a great player and I’ve already lost two times to her this year, so I’m going for my revenge again," Jabeur said. "I guess it’s working! Hopefully the crowd will be here again.”
Saturday's final represents a different scenario entirely to when Jabeur tearfully exited the second round of the Australian Open to Vondrousova in January. Then, the Tunisian was struggling with a knee injury which required surgery. Now, she is happy, healthy, and competing on a surface she has proved to be the best in the world on.
Still, this is no time to relax and as the favourite, the pressure will be all on Jabuer. Not that she's letting that faze her having learnt from last year's heartbreaking final losses at Wimbledon and the US Open.
“I’m learning to transform the bad energy into a good one," Jabeur said. "Some things I have no control over ... but I was able to accept it and dig deep to win this match – and hopefully win this tournament.”
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Brief scores:
Toss: Northern Warriors, elected to field first
Bengal Tigers 130-1 (10 ov)
Roy 60 not out, Rutherford 47 not out
Northern Warriors 94-7 (10 ov)
Simmons 44; Yamin 4-4
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How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
Palestine and Israel - live updates
NBA Finals results
Game 1: Warriors 124, Cavaliers 114
Game 2: Warriors 122, Cavaliers 103
Game 3: Cavaliers 102, Warriors 110
Game 4: In Cleveland, Sunday (Monday morning UAE)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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