Ons Jabeur's run at the at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open was ended at the quarter-final stage when defending champion Elena Rybakina triumphed after a thrilling battle on Thursday evening.
The Tunisian crowd favourite made the top seed fight all the way after coming back from a set down to level the match before eventually going down 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 at the International Tennis Centre at Zayed Sports City.
Having swept aside 17-year-old qualifier Sonobe Wakan in the previous round, top seed Rybakina – who defeated Jabeur in the 2022 Wimbledon final – was always going to provide a far sterner test.
And the Kazakhstani roared into a 3-0 lead before going on to take the first set in 29 minutes.
But Jabeur fought back in style with the three-time Grand Slam finalist taking a 5-1 lead, only to almost blow the advantage with a series of unforced errors before finally serving out the second set.
Jabeur then roared back from a 4-2 deficit in the decider and after saving two match points in her 6-5 service game, had all the momentum as she built a 4-2 advantage at the change of ends in the deciding tiebreak.
But Moscow-born Rybakina secured a last-four clash with Belinda Bencic after winning in two hours and 13 minutes.
“It was an epic match but never easy to lose one like that,” Jabeur told The National.
“It was a pretty good match from both of us. Always tough playing Elena. Obviously I'm disappointed for not winning this match, but it was very close.
“I will keep the positive and keep working to improve a lot of things. Hopefully next time I can get my revenge.
“I know that my level is coming back slowly. I'm glad that I'm doing like three sets against top ten but you know I'm a bit greedy so I want to do better for the next time and definitely will work harder and hopefully I can recover in time for Doha.”
Rybakina admitted Jabeur had made it “extremely difficult” before going on to win her sixth match in a row at the event.
“It was on script, we played really well,” Rybakina said of their sixth encounter which drew her level at 3-3 in their head-to-head record.
“We played so close every game, and I'm really happy that I managed to win … it was a big rollercoaster, but really happy to get through another round.”
Earlier, second seed Bencic continued with her impressive return from maternity leave with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in a repeat of the Tokyo Olympics final won by the Swiss.
Bencic secured her first semi-final spot since April 2023, the year she won the Abu Dhabi Open title after beating Liudmila Samsonova in the final.
“I always feel like against Marketa it's very tactical. It almost feels like chess a little bit,” she said.
“I feel like the wind was getting a little bit in our way for both of us. It was tough to serve. But we managed to do well and we had some great rallies.”
Bencic admits she had trepidation about how much tennis had changed in her absence after returning to action last October.
“I was really worried that, maybe the speed of the ball and the speed of how the girls are serving now and returning and everything will be maybe a little bit too much or a little bit too early for me,” she added.
“I had to work physically very hard, and it was a lot of work to come back for sure but I'm happy I'm getting to the same level.”
American world No 51 Ashlyn Krueger overcame eighth seed Leylah Fernandez 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 and will take on Linda Noskova in her first WTA 500 semi-final.
“I think we all know each other so well it's not going to depend on how someone is playing like yesterday, it's different than playing today so it's just about you know knowing the opponent and knowing what kind of game she has,” Krueger said after beating the Canadian in what was her third three-setter in a row.
“It's never easy playing another three-set match. I was just trying to develop the experience last night. I was resilient last night, so I was trying to do the same today.”
Czech youngster Noskova sealed her last-four place after defeating Poland's Magda Linette 6-4, 6-3.
