Tunisia Tennis star Ons Jabeur has become the first African player – Male or Female – to reach the quarterfinals of all the four grand slams!
Jabeur cruised past American Bernard Pena on Monday 6-3 6-1 in fourth round to reach the last eight of the ongoing French Open.
She had reached the Quarterfinals of the Australian Open in 2020 before storming the finals of US and Wimbledon Opens last year.
And the French Open, popularly known as the Roland Garos, which had proved a hard nut to crack.
Jabeur lost to Magda Linette of Poland in the First round last year, after back to back four round defeats in the previous campaigns.
But she has proved outstanding at the clay court this year having eliminated Lucia Bronzetti (Italy), Oceane Dodin (France) and Ilga Danilović (Serbia) to storm the fourth round.
And after dispatching Pena in an hour and three minutes, Jabeur revealed her excitement during a court side interview.
“I am happy to reach this far, Pena gave me hard time and she was putting a lot of pressure on my serves, I am glad I won and I hope to do better in my next match,” Jabeur said (in French).
“Thanks to all the fans who came out to support me, it has been an important match for me, I lost two times in the fourth round and I guess the third time is the charm and I hope I can continue to go all the way.”
And her victory makes her the first African player male or female to reach the quarter-final stage at each of the four Grand Slams in the Open Era.
Johan Christiaan Kriek achieved this fate but the South African had already switched her Nationality to American at the time.
Amanda Coetzer, another South African, came closest but failed to reach the Quarterfinal at Wimbledon, despite reaching the Quarters of other three grand slams.
Sandra Reynolds who reached the Quarterfinals (or beyond) of all the four Grand Slams, made it before the open era. The current era (Open) started in 1968 when Grand Slam tournaments allowed professional players to compete with amateurs.
Renown Kevin Anderson (also from South Africa), who reached the finals of the Wimbledon (2018) and US Open (2017), failed at the fourth round of the Australian Open and French Open a couple of times.
