Ons Jabeur is putting together a really solid run at the Ningbo Open, booking a final showdown with Diana Shnaider.
Jabeur had high hopes for a good week in Guadalajara, but it didn't go well, with another disappointing loss. It's looking a lot better in Ningbo, though she will need her best yet in the upcoming final match against Russia's Diana Shnaider.
This win was a solid one, albeit not perfect, because she dropped a set to a player who, let's face it, isn't the best hard-court player. Nadia Podoroska is good and can play well on hard courts, but she's predominantly a clay player who has no business winning sets off of a Top 10 player in Jabeur.
Jabeur looked very in control of the first set. She did drop her serve early in the opening set but that's like a ritual at this point. She drops it and then goes on a run to turn around the set which did happen 6-3. The second one was bad, very bad.
It was quite a bulldozing from Podoroska, who won it 6-1 as Jabeur missed early and never recovered. We've seen her spiral out of control more than once when things go south, and that's what happened here. As expected, she bounced back in the final set despite not serving that well.
She was just that much better than Podoroska in rallies, taking a break midway through the set to put herself in position to close out the match. She broke her opponent for the second time in that final set to close it out 6-2.
The final score was 6-3 1-6 6-2; a colourful score and a rather typical one for Jabeur. She'll need to play far better in the final if she hopes to win the title against Shnaider.
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