Jabeur battles back to beat Anisimova and reach Charleston final

Tunisian trailblazer Ons Jabeur battled back from a first-set blow-out—as well as a break down in the third set—to hold off an in-form Amanda Anisimova, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, and move through to the final of the WTA 500 event in Charleston.

She’s now a win away from the biggest title of her career.

“I never give up to be honest,” she said after her comeback win over Anisimova.

“I always believe I can win the match, and to be able to pick up so many different balls, that’s what helped me win today.”

After upsetting No. 5-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the third round and powering past former Top 10 player CoCo Vandeweghe in the quarterfinals in just 64 minutes on Friday night, 6-1, 6-2, Anisimova continued to pound winners into the corners early on in the match against Jabeur on Saturday, cruising through the first set, 6-2.

The second set was the complete opposite, though, with Jabeur beginning to hit her spots with her incredible shot variety—including a few picture perfect drop shots from deep in the court—and she rebounded with a 6-1 second set.

Anisimova struck back with an early break in the third, jumping out to a 3-1 lead, but Jabeur was just too dialed from there, reeling off five of the last six games of the match to close it out after an hour and 46 minutes on court.

“She plays really well, so I knew I had to dig deep there to get the win today,” a joyous Jabeur said in her on-court interview.

The Tunisian finished with more than three times as many winners as unforced errors, 32 to 9. Even Anisimova finished with more winners than unforced errors, 22 to 16.

Jabeur has now won 12 of her last 14 matches in the city of Charleston, going 8-2 at the two events that were held there in 2021 (reaching the semifinals of the WTA 500 event and the final of the WTA 250 event) and 4-0 so far at this year's event.

She’ll be going for the second WTA title of her career, having won the WTA 250 grass-court event in Birmingham last June. She's 1-3 in her career in WTA finals.

Up next for her is Belinda Bencic, who defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first semifinal of the day, 6-4, 6-3, and will be going for the sixth WTA title of her career.

“Belinda is amazing—an amazing player, an amazing friend,” Jabeur said of the reigning Olympic champion. “It’s going to be a tough match. She’s such a fighter.

“I hope she’s still tired from the Badosa match.”

The two have played each other just once before, with Bencic recording a 7-6 (2), 4-3 retirement victory in Madrid last year when Jabeur had to stop due to a leg injury.