With the simply great tennis played by Caroline Garcia over the last few weeks, we could expect great things from the Frenchwoman in the semifinals of the United States Open. However, Ons Jabeur put an end to her rival’s dreams by quickly beating her in straight sets 6-1 6-3 on Thursday night.

Garcia had not dropped a single set at Flushing Meadows, dominating against tough opponents like Canada’s Bianca Andreescu, winner of the tournament in 2019, and Americans and local favorites Alison Riske and Coco Gauff.

Jabeur had an equally strong run, conceding just one run to Shelby Rogers in the third round. She was visibly thrilled against the Cincinnati tournament winner, from whom she took the first set in seven short games.

The fifth racquet in the world, Garcia broke in the opener before stealing serve again in games five and seven. The French did everything to last in the second set but Jabeur pushed her into a mistake more than once.

unruly

Despite struggling to get her first ball in play (45%), the winner won 83% of rallies in these circumstances, particularly from eight aces. She was opportunistic, converting her four break points without putting herself in a weak position against Garcia.

The Tunisian has had her rival’s number for several years, having won the two previous duels between the two tennis women. Their two encounters came at Grand Slams, 2020 in Australia and 2019 in the United States.

It is the second time this season that Jabeur has managed to reach the final of a Grand Slam tournament after being defeated by Elena Rybakina at Wimbledon. In the final she meets the winner of the shock between the Pole Iga Swiatek, the first player in the WTA ranking, and the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.

leave for men

It was a day off for the men ahead of Friday’s semifinals. Russia’s Karen Khachanov (27th) and Norway’s Casper Ruud (5th) will cross swords before ceding the field at Artur Ashe Stadium to local favorite, American Frances Tiafoe, and Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz (3rd). .

The latter also suffered in his quarterfinals on Wednesday, beating Italian Jannik Sinner in 5 hours and 15 minutes. The 19-year-old won the second-longest game in US Open history in five sets 6-3, 6-7 (7), 6-7 (0), 7-5, 6-3.