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Tennis

Ons Jabeur’s WTA Finals Debut Ends with a Shocking Loss

Ons Jabeur came into this year’s WTA Finals as one of the favorites for the title, but her first match didn’t go as well as everyone hoped. The Tunisian tennis player failed to meet the expectations on the opening night, ending the match with a shocking loss to Aryna Sabalenka. Jabeur’s loss came as quite a surprise because she came into the season-ending tournament as the second seed, behind Iga Swiatek. Her hopes to come out victorious were destroyed by Belarusian seventh seed Sabalenka, who managed to beat her 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5. Sabalenka described her match against Jabeur as her biggest win of the season and called it a miracle because her opponent played incredibly. "I was just like, ‘Keep trying, keep fighting, and make sure that if she wants to win this match, she has to do something great, not like an easy win.’ And I think that’s why I put a little bit more pressure on her and in the key moments, I was able to win it," said Sabalenka after the match. The 2022 WTA Finals are taking place between October 31 and November 7, at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. It’s a match-up between the eight highest-ranking singles and doubles players, and the list of remaining contenders includes Coco Gauff, Maria Sakkari, and Caroline Garcia.