The No 3 seed’s path has been comfortable so far but she faces a huge challenge to find a way around the hard-hitting Kazak
Not long after Wimbledon began this year, it became clear that the greatest obstacle between Ons Jabeur and a first grand slam final was likely to be herself. She arrived in the form of her life and around her in the bottom half of the draw the seeds continued to fall. She ploughed through the field, and was soon the prohibitive favourite.
As she moved on, Jabeur had to navigate a series of tricky opponents with uncomfortable playing styles. They forced her to generate all of the pace herself, they presented formidable defences for her to penetrate and threw up copious amounts of slice to handle. But as she saw off a series of opponents ranked outside the top 30, she was heavily favoured in each round. It has often been uncomfortable, and Jabeur’s stress during certain matches has been plain to see, but she kept her head until the last.