PARIS, June 7 (Reuters) - Seventh seed Ons Jabeur's hopes of becoming the first African woman to win a Grand Slam singles title lay in ruins on Wednesday after her 3-6 7-6(5) 6-1 defeat by Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia in the French Open quarter-finals.
Jabeur was bidding to reach her third Grand Slam semi-final in less than a year but her plans were scuppered by the 14th-seeded left-hander who battled back bravely to book her own maiden last-four appearance in a major.
"In the middle of the second set my coach showed me the clock," Haddad Maia said.
The Tunisian, a finalist at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year, bagged a couple of quick breaks to move into the driving seat as Haddad Maia struggled to deal with her opponent's flat groundstrokes.
The Brazilian, the first woman from her country to reach the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam for 55 years, decided to try to run Jabeur around.
Persons:
Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia, Jabeur, Maria Bueno, Roland Garros, Haddad Maia, Gustavo Kuerten, Haddad Maia's, Karolos Grohmann, Christian Radnedge, Ed Osmond
Organizations:
Wimbledon, U.S, Thomson
Locations:
Tunisian