July 01, (THEWILL) – Africa’s representation is flying high in England as Tunisian tennis star Ons Jabeur reached the third round of Wimbledon for the first time by handing a straight sets 7-5, 6-0 defeat to five-time champion and American tennis icon Venus Williams.
The 26-year-old was pushed hard by the veteran 41-year-old Williams in the first set of their second round pairing. However, Wimbledon’s 21st seed did not allow her concentration drop in taking that set 7-5.
It was not as difficult in the second set but credit goes to Jabeur and the extremely hard work she put in to keep her unforced errors to the barest minimum. She attacked everything Venus threw at her with efficient strokeplay while keeping to her service game strongly and attacking the Williams’ serve.
That was how the Tunisian got the better of the veteran in the final set where Williams could not get a single game to her name, missing it by a bagel, 6-love. It was a 90th Grand Slam tournament for Williams but one of her very few earliest exits in her professional career.
This comes after the injury-enforced retirement of the younger of the Williams’ sisters, Serena, whose attempt for a record-equalling 24 Grand Slam titles suffered yet another unfortunate setback from falls she sustained playing on the now infamous slippery turf of Centre Court.
It is all coming together very smoothly for Jabeur, who made history when she won the Birmingham WTA tournament earlier this month. She is set to contend against Spain’s 2017 Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza for a place in the Last 16 of the All-England Club competition.
In her post-match remarks, the Tunisian said: “Honestly I was so nervous first time I play a legend and not everyone was with me today but it was a great game.
“My game slices goes well with the grass surface, I enjoy it here I can dive any time I like. Hopefully I can continue my journey. Garbina Muguruza is a tough player and plays amazing on grass.
“I did a quarter-final at the Australian Open (2020) and I want to do better than that.”
THEWILL notes that the 2021 Wimbledon marks the first time that there is none of the Williams’ sisters in the third round at SW19 since Serena made her debut at the tournament in 1998, when she was about 17.
However, Venus will remain in contention in Wimbledon. As THEWILL reported, the American will be contest the mixed doubles with Nick Kyrgios, the Australian, who accepted fan-choice Williams as the one to enter mixed doubles with at this year’s competition and she accepted.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
