Top seed Ons Jabeur lost to American Claire Liu 6-3 4-6 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Jasmin Open Monastir in her home country of Tunisia. The national heroine’s loss is a big blow for tournament organizers.
After cruising past Ann Li and Evgeniya Rodina in the first two rounds, Jabeur reached her Tour-leading 12th quarterfinal of 2022. The Tunisian was stopped by the world No.73 Liu in the last eight, as the American recorded her first Top 10 win.
The two-time Grand Slam finalist Jabeur is the main reason behind a substantial growth of tennis in Tunisia, so it’s a big disappointment that she hasn’t managed to progress further at the WTA 250 event taking place just 10 miles from her birth place of Ksar Hellal. The Tunisian Tennis Federation estimated that it has more than 20,000 participants, 14,000 more than two years ago, and the number is growing. The number of tennis clubs has also increased, including them spreading into towns with previously non-existent tennis tradition.
After the loss, Jabeur tweeted: “Thank you Monastir! Not the outcome we all wanted but I am so proud to have played at home in front of you. See you soon!”
The 28-year-old Jabeur will now focus on her first appearance at the WTA Finals, which begin in Fort Worth, Texas on October 31st.
Ok the thing about Ons is she is trying wayyy to hard to be liked by everyone on the tour, I mean who helped fix up a collar of your opponent you lose to in a slam final.
That’s just cringe to the max