Wimbledon 2022, Final, Saturday, 09/07/2022
Final, Part One! The top two women in the tournament will face each other at Wimbledon on Saturday afternoon. Many expected Ons Jabeur, but Elena Rybakina is a real surprise in this final.
As is often the case in a final, Betano gives us relatively even odds with a slight bias towards the Tunisian. Of course, we followed closely how confidently the real underdog strolled through London.
In my Rybakina Jabeur tip, I take a closer look at the performances of both players. Will the clear difference in size play a role in the end? I also reveal why my personal favourite is at home at No. 2 in the world rankings!
A final at a Grand Slam and no Iga Swiatek on either side, the experts had not thought that before. After the early exit of the Pole, they quickly agreed on a new top favourite: Ons Jabeur.
She withstood the pressure and is now the first African to reach a GS final. And completely deservedly so, if you look at her results. In the first rounds she played her way easily.
Mirjam Björklund, Katarzyna Kawa and Diane Perry were far too weak to seriously embarrass the Tunisian. Jabeur had to push her limits for the first time in her 7-6, 6-4 loss to Elise Mertens in the round of 16.
And lo and behold, she actually managed to drop sets as well. In the quarter-final against Marie Bouzkova, she missed the first one 3-6, but it was all the more impressive how she made a comeback 6-1, 6-1.
Emotions will be high on Saturday, but can they top those from the semi-finals? Jabeur met the London sensation: Tatjana Maria, one of her best friends. At 1-1 (6-2, 3-6), however, the friendship had to rest.
The favourite snatched a quick 6-1, deservedly made the final. Nevertheless, this match showed: you can definitely hurt the world number 2. She won less than 60% of her first serve points on average and her service game was much stronger.
On Saturday, everything will be new anyway, because a Grand Slam final is the very first time Jabeur is playing. She will meet a player against whom she leads 2-1 in the head-to-head comparison.
1-6, 7-6, 2-6 in 2019, 7-6, 4-6, 6-2 two years later, these two incredibly close duels can be found in the statistics. Jabeur is only in the lead because she benefited from Rybakina’s shutout at 6-4, 3-2 in Chicago a year ago.
These are very close results, which is probably why the odds read relatively even. With average values of 1.60 to 2.30, the German betting companies have positioned themselves per Jabeur.
Hardly anyone expected Elena Rybakina to reach the final before the tournament. In 2021, she reached the round of 16 in her only participation in Wimbledon so far, and now she managed to hit the big time.
Her results in Hertogenbosch and Eastbourne were anything but exhilarating, so her run in the English capital is all the more surprising. In the entire tournament she only dropped one set!
At first it seemed as if she would only be able to deliver close results. Whether against Coco Vandeweghe, Bianca Andreescu, Zheng Qinwen or Petra Martic, only one match had less than 21.5 games.
Rybakina constantly played tiebreaks, but always won 2-0 in the end. Then in the quarter-finals against Ajla Tomljanovic both series broke. She won 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. When she faced Simona Halep, who had not lost a set at Wimbledon, everyone was expecting the Romanian.
Rybakina, however, played her best tennis in this match. She gave her opponent only one break chance and secured a 6-3, 6-3. The clearest victory against her strongest opponent of all!
In the biggest match of their careers, both Ons Jabeur and Elena Rybakina will be nervous. Who will compensate better? Both avoided competition from the Top 15 in the tournament.
In my opinion, the deciding factor will be who can handle the pressure better. I think Jabeur is the stronger player here, also because the direct comparison is in her favour. That’s why I’m betting on:
Jabeur wins Wimbledon!
