Jabeur into second consecutive Wimbledon quarter-final, gets past Mertens

Tunisian Ons Jabeur, the No 3 seed, moved into the quarter-finals of Wimbledon by winning against Belgian Elise Mertens, the No 24 seed, 7-6 (9), 6-4 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London on Sunday evening.

Jabeur, ranked No 2, will play Czech Marie Bouzkova next.

She was quick to pay tribute to her opponent, saying: “She is a great opponent, really. It’s never easy to play her. I had to dig deep, very deep, into the [first-set] tiebreak. I couldn’t imagine myself playing three sets against her!”

And she added: “Preparing for grass is always amazing for me, I always have fun, I try to play a little bit of football on the field. I love playing on grass, I love the connection between nature and me, hopefully it will continue this way for me – maybe to the final.”

The Tunisian defeated Swede qualifier Mirjam Bjorklund (6-1, 6-3), Pole qualifier Katarzyna Kawa (6-4, 6-0) and Frenchwoman Diane Parry (6-2, 6-3) earlier in the tournament.

In the previous rounds, Mertens, ranked No 31, won against Colombian Maria Camila Osorio Serrano (1-6, 6-2, 4-2 ret.), Hungarian Panna Udvardy (3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5) and German Angelique Kerber, the No 15 seed (6-4, 7-5).

London (Grand Slam), other last 16 results (All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, grass, GBP 40.350.000, most recent results first):

• Amanda Anisimova vs. Harmony Tan
• Paula Badosa vs. Simona Halep
• Elena Rybakina vs. Petra Martic
• Alize Cornet vs. Ajla Tomljanovic
• Jule Niemeier beat Heather Watson: 6-2, 6-4
• Tatjana Maria beat Jelena Ostapenko (12): 5-7, 7-5, 7-5
• Marie Bouzkova beat Caroline Garcia: 7-5, 6-2