Haddad Maia in French Open semis
Brazilian shatters Jabeur’s Slam dream
PARIS: Beatriz Haddad Maia became the first Brazilian woman to reach a Grand Slam semi-final since 1968 yesterday when she came back from a set down to defeat Ons Jabeur at the French Open.
World No.14 Haddad Maia came through 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 and will face either top-ranked defending champion Iga Swiatek or Coco Gauff for a place in Saturday’s championship match.
The 27-year-old left-hander follows in the footsteps of seven-time major winner Maria Bueno who was the last Brazilian woman in the semi-finals of a major at the US Open 55 years ago.
Bueno, who passed away in 2018, made the last four in Paris in 1966 before the advent of the Open era.
“Ons is not easy to play against, you have to be patient but I believed in my body and tried to keep my rhythm,” said Haddad Maia.
Jabeur, the runner-up at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2022, was playing in her first quarter-final at Roland Garros.
The Tunisian hit 15 winners as she claimed an opening set which featured five breaks of serve in nine games.
Haddad Maia had never got past the second round of a Grand Slam before this French Open.
She had saved a match point in the third round against Ekaterina Alexandrova and then defeated Sara Sorribes Tormo in a three-hour 51-minute marathon, the third longest women’s match ever played at the tournament.
She summoned all that fighting spirit in the second set against Jabeur, holding her nerve on a fourth set point.
Haddad Maia then swept into a 3-0 lead in the decider, saved four break points to stretch to a 5-1 advantage and took the match after two and a half hours when Jabeur hit long.
“I had a day off after my fourth round match. My amazing team worked hard on my body,” said the Brazilian.
“We work hard all year to be in these moments so I remembered this when we were in the middle of the second set.”
SABALENKA CONDEMNS WAR
Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka outrightly condemned her country’s role in the war in Ukraine on Tuesday and insisted she is not a supporter of president Alexander Lukashenko.
“I’m not supporting the war, meaning I don’t support Lukashenko right now,” the world No.2 said after reaching the French Open semi-finals by defeating Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.
The 25-year-old had come under increasing pressure to distance herself from her close relationship with Lukashenko, a key military ally of Moscow in the ongoing conflict.
“We played a lot of Fed Cups in Belarus. He [Lukashenko] was in our matches taking pictures with us after the match. But nothing bad was happening that time in Belarus or in Ukraine or in Russia,” she told reporters.
Sabalenka had cancelled two previous press conferences at Roland Garros, claiming she didn’t feel “safe” after facing a barrage of questions over her links to her country’s strongman leader.
As Australian Open champion and potential world No.1 after the French Open, she was urged by Ukraine rivals to use her platform to individually stand up against the war.
“I don’t want my country to be involved in any conflict. I said it many times. You have my position. You have my answer,” she said.
“I don’t want sport to be involved in politics, because I’m just a 25-year-old tennis player.”
At the end of Tuesday’s match, Svitolina chose not to shake the hand of Sabalenka, a common practice now in the sport when a Ukrainian player meets
a Russian or Belarusian opponent.
Svitolina was booed by the crowd while Sabalenka stood in vain waiting at the net.
“It just was an instinct like I always do after all my matches,” said Sabalenka
of her decision to make the traditional approach to the net, insisting she had “big respect” for her opponent.
When asked if Sabalenka had inflamed the situation by staring her down, Svitolina replied: “Yeah, I think
so, unfortunately.”
Sabalenka has now reached the last four at each of the Grand Slams and will face 43rd-ranked Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic today for a place in Saturday’s final.