Elena Rybakina acknowledged that Ons Jabeur delivered good tennis but also blamed her service not working particularly well and missed opportunities for her loss. Rybakina, the defending Wimbledon champion, exited The Championships in the quarterfinal after Jabeur handed her a 6-7 (5) 6-4 6-1 defeat. Just 12 months ago, Rybakina recovered from a set down to beat Jabeur in the Wimbledon final for her first Grand Slam title. This time, the tables turned as Rybakina made the better start but ended up on the losing side.
“Well, for sure she was making better decisions from the court than last year, I would say. I also had a lot of opportunities this time, especially in the second set. I felt that my serve wasn’t that great. I would say the percentage – I didn’t see the statistics yet – but I think since it’s my weapon and it was not working that well. But definitely she was playing good today, especially in some important moments, so that made difference,” Rybakina said after the loss.
Rybakina on losing to Jabeur
After winning the first set, Rybakina also had three break points in the fifth game of the second set but failed to realize any of them. In the 10th game – when Rybakina was serving to stay in the second set – Jabeur broke the Kazakh to send the match into a decider. Rybakina’s game then fell apart as Jabeur broke the Kazakh in the second and sixth games of the third set en route to completing a comeback win.
“Yeah, I think she was returning really well. But, as I said, my percentage of the serve was not the greatest. Maybe I hit a few really powerful serves, but not good placement. Also I was not really changing direction. Yeah, I mean, she returned really well few moments, and she was really stable and she was going for some shots. Definitely this match she was playing well, especially in important moments,” Rybakina said.