Alcaraz brushes off 'spying' controversy

Jabeur's revenge

In a repeat of the 2022 title match, Tunisian sixth seed Jabeur came from behind to beat defending champion Elena Rybakina 6-7 (5),6-4, 6-1 in their quarterfinal.

Both players broke twice in the first set before the Kazakh third seed took the tiebreak.

But Rybakina cracked in the 10th game of the second set, allowing Jabeur to level the match and the Tunisian maintained her momentum to storm to victory.

"Crazy match, difficult match but I'm glad that I got the win this time," said the 28-year-old, who admitted she had not been able to watch her defeat last year because it was too painful.

"I wasn't ready to play this kind of match (last year)," she said. "I don't regret last year. It happened for a reason. I always say it.

"It was meant to be this year. It was meant to be in the quarterfinals. I have learned a lot from the final last year. Definitely very proud of myself for the improvement that I did mentally, physically, and with the tennis racket."

Jabeur will face world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka in Thursday's women's semifinals.

The Belarusian powered into a second Wimbledon semifinal with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Madison Keys of the United States.

A double break secured the first set and Sabalenka, who was defeated by Karolina Pliskova in the last four in 2021, dug herself out of a deep hole at 4-2, 40-0 down in the second set.

Sabalenka was banned from the 2022 tournament due to the conflict in Ukraine, along with all Russian and Belarusian players.

Belarus is a key ally of Moscow.

"When I was a little girl I dreamed of winning Wimbledon," she added. "It's something special here."

Ukrainian wild card Elina Svitolina will meet unseeded Czech player Marketa Vondrousova in the other women's semifinal on Thursday.

AFP