Manama, June 18 (BUS): Coco Gauff’s best race to date in the grasscourt championship ended when the 18-year-old American lost to Anas Jaber 7-6 (4) 6-2 in the semi-finals of the tournament. The Berlin Open on Saturday.
Amid cheers from fans waving Tunisian flags amid a heatwave in Berlin, Jabeur recovered from a 3-1 deficit in the first set and dominated the second set to put the final match against Belinda Bencic on Sunday.
“You have to be good to beat Coco, you know. She’s a great player,” Jaber said, adding that she was “not expecting” her first herbal tournament of the season and praised the Tunisian fans.
“Everywhere I go they are always here, cheering all the time, it’s amazing,” she said.
Jaber will play her fourth final in a season in which she ranked fourth in the world in her career, becoming the first African and first Arab to win the WTA 1000 at the Madrid Open last month.
The tournament in Berlin is her first since a surprise first-round loss at the French Open.
Next week, Jabeur heads to Eastbourne, where she and Serena Williams will pair up on American Returns after a year out.
Gough’s race in Berlin was her best so far on grass, a surface she had never reached before in the quarter-finals.
Bencic returned to the Berlin final for the second year in a row in pursuit of her first grasscourt title in seven years with a tough victory over Maria Sakkari.
Bencic needed to play more than three hours in the heat to defeat second seed Sakari 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-4 in the semi-finals.
Bencic had set a point in the first set of the tiebreak before her Greek opponent won the next three to take the set.
The second set and playoff were also closely contested, with Scari saving four points in the second set and two match points in the third before penetrating Bencic.
Skari finished sixth, 11 places behind Bencic, but had never played in a grass semi-final before.
The Swiss player has a chance to win the Berlin title after losing the final last year to Lyudmila Samsonova.
Olympic gold medalist Bencic set a record 6-8 in finals including 1-3 on turf, with the only turf title at Eastbourne in 2015.
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