Elena Rybakina seals maiden Grand Slam title with 2022 Wimbledon triumph over Ons Jabeur

A superb contest which saw Rybakina come from a set down to produce a barrage of big hitting and serving and in a match which could have seen history for both players becoming the first from their nation to win a Grand Slam, it was a first for Kazakhstan.

Albeit one which in the case of Rybakina will grab headlines due to being Russian born and the case of ranking points being stripped and players from both her birth country and Belarus being banned from playing.

This means as a result, she will only benefit on a prize money sense and will remain at World No.23 despite sealing her maiden Grand Slam this afternoon.

Both held serve to begin the tie but it was Jabeur who sealed the first break of the contest going 2-1 up with Rybakina over-cooking her backhand after initially sealing the opportunity by forcing the Kazakh deep into the corner of the court in which she couldn’t beat the net on the return.

It was a two-game cushion as she produced a superb backhand drop-shot while swivelling backwards at the baseline before producing more brilliance in a flicked passing backhand. A forehand was then sent into the net by Rybakina as 3-1 was set.

The first set continued to be the Ons show as she brought up more break opportunities but Rybakina survived to serve out a crucial hold at 3-2 down.

With the break still present, Jabeur held to make it 4-2 starting well on her service game and although she survived some pressure, she produced a sliced backhand to bamboozle Rybakina and go 4-2 up.

Rybakina was finding more joy on her first serve as she sealed a hold but from joy to despair as she followed up an unforced error into a double fault to give Jabeur the impetus on her serve and the frustration was confounded after overhitting an easy wide-open forehand and finishing with an unforced error into the net.

But as the second set began, Rybakina was handed a break opportunity as she looked to do what none of the previous 14 finals had and that was a comeback win. An underhit forehand allowed break point and a sublime forehand winner down the line claimed it.

She doubled her lead as she rescued a break point with a 117mph ace and followed it with an unreturnable wide serve and an overhit forehand from Jabeur as she went 2-0 up.

Jabeur finally got her first hold of the second set surviving a break point but still 2-1 down. A crucial impasse though saw Rybakina rescue three break points to hold and restore her two-game cushion finishing it with a huge ace which saw her sat at 3-1.

It was crucial as Jabeur continued to lose her way and followed a double fault with a forehand error into the net to hand Rybakina a break point which the Kazakh dispatched courtesy of a wild forehand from Jabeur.

She continued to march towards the set. Jabeur finally added some resolve at 5-2 down with a hold of serve but Rybakina was set to level it up. Rybakina did just that with her serve producing once more to set up an easy service hold with a sumptuous ace and a 6-2 set.

Just like the second set, Rybakina began the decider putting Jabeur under severe pressure with a break steering a winner to the opposite side of the court after going toe to toe at the net. Albeit especially for Jabeur, the line calling also continued to dictate with many serves getting called fault actually in.

But the impetus remained with Rybakina who escaped after two poor missed returns by Jabeur allowed her to go 30-15 up instead of potentially 40-0 down. An incredible crosscourt winner closed out the game though as she went 3-1 up.

The question remained though in terms of whether the serve of Rybakina would hold up and there were doubts as the Tunisian brought up three break points with a superb reply after securing an important hold at 3-2. But Rybakina battled hard to make it nine break points served at deuce before sealing a huge hold to make it 4-2 in a game which saw Jabeur use her final challenge.

This last gasp hold from Rybakina saw her gain the impetus once more as she went 30-15 up on Jabeur but a superb drop shot which just crept over the net saw the latter make it 30-30. Break point was brought up though and after having a chance of her own prior, she dropped her serve to a double break with Rybakina serving for the championship.

But despite wrangling with double faults and obvious nerves, Elena Rybakina did just that to cap off a brilliant tournament sealing it on her first championship point.