Anas Zafar was the first Arab and African to finish second in tennis

Anas Jaber of Tunisia became the first Arab and African player to rise to the status of “WTA”, the women’s tennis association, following her historic uprising on Monday.

Jaber, who finished second in the world rankings on Monday, advanced to the second round with a quick 6-1, 6-3 win over Sweden’s Miriam Bijorgland on Monday. And the Tunisian player took only 53 minutes to defeat his opponent. In the next round she will face Kardarcina Gaia of Poland, who defeated Rebecca Marino of Canada 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the set.

Jaber advanced to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon last year, reaching the same role at the 2020 Australian Open and his best results in major competitions.

After the win, Anas Jaber said: “Today I have achieved the highest rating in my life. Having lost only four games in today’s match means I got off to a great start in the tournament.” He concluded, “Now I like it. Go above the end of the quarter.

Jaber competed in doubles with senior American Serena Williams at the English Eastbourne Championships last week, and Jaber suffered a minor knee injury before entering the semifinals and won two matches.

2nd place in the world

After advancing to third place last Monday, she became the second highest-ranked African athlete to finish second with Amanda Coatser (November 1997) of South Africa. The light of the impressive results it provides.

The 27-year-old Tunisia, the first Arab woman to make the top ten last year, strengthened her career-best ranking by taking the extra spot at the expense of Estonian Annette Kondavit, who finished third. Score for 4340 points.

This season, Jaber won the Madrid title and became the runner-up to Polish world number one Iga Svendez in the 1000m in Rome, lifting the Berlin Cup on the Bull Court a week ago and reaching the third title in his career. , Before the start of Wimbledon.

Šviontik is still leading the way outside the herd, with over four thousand points from its closest rival, and after winning six titles so far this year, Jaber’s progress and Kondavit’s decline were the only changes to the top 13 list.

In men, Greek Stephanos Tsitsipas advanced to fifth place after losing to Norway’s Caspar Root after winning the Mallorca Championship on the grass courts last weekend.

This is the only change in the top 18 in the rankings, led by Russian Daniel Medvedev, who withdrew from Wimbledon after his country’s players and their Belarusian neighbors were banned from participating in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Second German, Alexander Sverrev, was ruled out of the semifinals following Roland Kros’ semi-final defeat, not even after ankle ligament surgery.

• Top Ten Player Rankings:

1- Russian Daniel Medvedev 7955 points

2- German Alexander Sverev 7030

3- Novak Djokovic 6770

4- Spaniard Rafael Nadal 6525

5- Greek Stephanos Chitsibas 5150 (+1)

6- Norway Caspar Rod 5050 (-1)

7. Spaniard Carlos Alcarus 4890

8- Russian Andrei Rublev 3870

9- Canadian Felix Agar-Aliasim 3760

10. Poland Hubert Hurkacz 3735

• Top Ten Player Rankings:

1- Poland IGA Schwendek 8576 points

2- Tunisian Anas Jafar 4340 (+1)

3- Estonian Annette Kondaveet 4306 (-1)

4- Spanish Paula Padusha 4245

5- Greek Maria Zachary 4205

6- Belarusian Arena Sapalenka 4046

7- Czech Carolina Bliskova 3777

8- American Daniel Collins 3255

9- American Jessica Begula 3156

10- Spanish Corbine Muguroza 3015