Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur was stopped by World number 1, Iga Swiatek with straight sets victory in Saturday’s US Open final.
In a keenly contested match, Ons Jabeur was appearing in her second consecutive major final.
After losing the Wimbledon final two months ago, the Tunisian tennis star was aiming to bounce back against Swiatek.
On her way to the final, she made history by becoming the first African woman to reach the quarter-final, semi-final and last stage of the US Open.
With the eyes of Africa and the world on her, she was hoping to make history again by being the first African to win the US Open title but the Polish top-seed had other ideas.
All did not go as planned as she found herself 6-2 down from the first set and played catch-up throughout the thoroughly contested match.
The momentum nearly shifted but Swiatek broke serve for a fifth time to lead 4-2 and Jabeur wasn’t ready to give up just yet.
She won back-to-back games, had three break points for another and a chance to serve for the set at 5-4. She later denied Swiatek a championship point in the 12th game.
In the end, Jabeur’s forehand let her down. After taking a late lead at 5-4 from 4-2 down, Jabeur misfired twice in the last three points to hand Swiatek the trophy.
She fought hard but Swiatek’s early set win was enough to take her over the line to her second Grand Slam title of 2022 and third major overall – 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).
Having also won Roland Garros this spring, the 21-year-old Pole is the first woman to win two Grand Slam singles titles in the same season since Angelique Kerber triumphed at the Australian Open and US Open in 2016.
Jabeur, at the end of match, admitted that Swiatek was a difficult opponent for her and she assured to continue improving.
“I really tried, but Iga didn’t make it easy for me. But she deserved to win today,” she said.
“I don’t like her very much right now, but it’s OK. Just an amazing two weeks to be honest with you, backing up my final in Wimbledon.
“I know I am going to keep working hard and we’ll get that title some time soon.”
