The Tunisian has seemingly inexorable momentum behind her going into the final, but Vondrousova has beaten her in their last two meetings
When Ons Jabeur made her transition on to the lowest rungs of professional tennis 12 years ago, her target seemed difficult enough. For so long the highest-ranked Arab woman in the history of the WTA was Selima Sfar, the Tunisian who reached the heights of No 75 in 2001.
It took Jabeur – Sfar’s compatriot – a long time to pass that mark. She had spent five years of her career stuck in the purgatory of being ranked between 100 and 200. Since she crossed the magic No 75 at the end of 2018, she has not stopped rising.