Tunisian Jabeur rides punches to beat Sabalenka and reach ...

Ons Jabeur showed it is sometimes better to float like a butterfly than sting like a bee as her wily artistry overcame the brutal hitting of Aryna Sabalenka to reach her second Wimbledon final with a 6-7(5) 6-4 6-3 victory on Thursday.

Jabeur, who was beaten in last year's final, looked destined to suffer more heartbreak on Centre Court when she lost the opening set, but her delicate stroke play and clever angles eventually subdued the relentless power of Belarusian Sabalenka.

The victory set up a final between the Tunisian sixth seed and unseeded Czech Marketa Vondrousova, the 42nd-ranked former French Open finalist who ended the hopes of Ukrainian Elina Svitolina earlier on Thursday.

Jabeur, who also finished runner-up at last year's US Open, passed up four match points, but finally got over the line with an ace, calmly raising her arms to the sky in celebration before reflecting on some newfound mental toughness.

“I'm very proud of myself because maybe the old me would have lost the match today and went back home already, but I'm glad that I kept digging very deep and finding the strength,” she said.

Jabeur, who is bidding to become the first African woman as well as first Arab to win a major, has shown real steel to come through this year, becoming the first woman to defeat three top-10 opponents at Wimbledon since Serena Williams, perhaps one of the game's toughest competitors, in 2012.

Sabalenka, who missed last year's tournament due to Wimbledon's ban on Russian and Belarusian players, was as tough an opponent as she could have faced.

The second seed possessed an envious recent Grand Slam record having won the Australian Open in January and reached the last four at Roland Garros while the world number one spot was hers had she beaten Jabeur.

Vondrousova showed there was no room for any gushing sentiment as she ended the remarkable run of new mum Svitolina with a 6-3 6-3 victory to reach the Wimbledon final for the first time.

In the run-up to a first All England Club women's semifinal featuring two unseeded players, Vondrousova said the Ukrainian was “incredible”, “amazing”, “a fighter” and “a super woman” for reaching the last four of a Grand Slam nine months after giving birth to daughter Skai.

But that did not stop Vondrousova from shattering Svitolina's dreams and she now stands one win from completing her own phenomenal comeback story after two wrist surgeries after her runner-up finish at the French Open in 2019.

“I cannot believe it. I am very happy that I made the final. Elina is such a fighter and a great person. It was a tough match. I am very happy,” said the 42nd-ranked Vondrousova.

She will be bidding to become the first unseeded woman to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish when she faces either Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka or Tunisian sixth seed Ons Jabeur in Saturday's final.

“I didn't play for six months last year and you never know if you can be at that level again. I'm just so grateful to be here and to be healthy and play tennis again,” added the 24-year-old, who had fallen so far off the tennis radar that she has been playing at this year's championships without a clothing sponsor.

Svitolina had become a firm crowd favourite at Wimbledon after she produced a fearless brand of tennis to send four Grand Slam champions spinning out of this year's tournament.

But on Thursday, no matter how much the Centre Court crowd tried to lift the Ukrainian wild card with booming shouts of “We love you Elina”, Svitolina appeared to be weighed down with the expectation of giving her war-ravaged country “a little bit of happiness” and froze on the biggest stage in tennis.