Tennis – Australian Open – Quarter Final – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia – January 28, 2020 – Sofia Kenin of the U.S. in action during her match against Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur. REUTERS/Issei Kato
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – American Sofia Kenin saw off big-hitting Tunisian Ons Jabeur 6-4 6-4 at the Australian Open on Tuesday to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final.
Kenin, 21, broke early on the way to winning the opening set but Jabeur, the first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final, showed plenty of stomach for the fight, saving five set points over two games to keep the 14th seed waiting.
Jabeur, ranked 78 in the world, wasted three breakpoint chances in the sixth game of the second set with unforced errors and threw her racket away in disgust before being broken by Kenin in the next game.
Kenin converted her first match point when Jabeur, 25, found the net on a service return. The American will meet either world number one Ash Barty of Australia or Czech Petra Kvitova for a place in Saturday’s final.
Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Peter Rutherford