The most consistent players
Ons Jabeur
Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur became the first Arab player to reach the top 10 in the WTA Rankings after her historic win in the quarter final against Kontaveit in Indian Wells. Jabeur won 48 match wins achieving the best record on the WTA Tour this season.
Jabeur made history as the first Arab player to win a WTA Tour title in Birmingham after her 7-5 6-4 win over Daria Kasatkina. In the same tournament Jabeur and her Australian partner Ellen Perez finished runner-up to Marie Bouzkova and Lucie Hradecka in the doubles final.
“I knew I had to go for it, I had to win this title to give an example. There are not a lot of Tunisian or Arabic players playing, so I hope this could inspire them. I want to see more Arabic players and Tunisians playing with me on tour”, said Jabeur.
A few weeks later Jabeur beat five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams 7-5 6-0 to become the first Arab woman to reach the third round at Wimbledon. Jabeur rallied from a set down to beat Garbine Muguruza reaching the fourth round at the Championships for the first time.
Jabeur came back from one set down to beat Iga Swiatek and reached the quarter final, where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka.
Maria Sakkari:
Maria Sakkari became the first Greek player to reach the WTA Finals. Sakkari also reached two Grand Slam semifinals at Roland Garros and the US Open, where she beat top 20 opponents at both tournaments. For the first time in Grand Slam history two Greek players (Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas) reached the semifinals of a Major tournament.
At the US Open she recorded her third consecutive win over a top 10 seed against Karolina Pliskova to reach her second consecutive Grand Slam semifinal. She lost to eventual champion Emma Raducanu in the semifinal and moved up to world number 13 in the WTA Ranking in mid-September.
She recorded seven top 10 wins in 2021 and achieved the biggest win of her career against Naomi Osaka in the quarter final to reach the semifinal at the Miami Open. She also reached her third career final in Ostrava where she lost to Kontaveit 6-2 7-5 and two semifinals in Abu Dhabi and at the Grampians Trophy in Melbourne. After her final in Ostrava she broke into the top 10 for the first time in her career.
Sakkari follows in the footsteps of her mother Angeliki Kanellopoulou, who was a former top 50 player that reached a career-high ranking of number 43 in 1987 and the third round at the French Open in 1985 and 1987.
Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Sabalenka finished the year ranked world number 2. In the first tournament of the year in Abu Dhabi Sabalenka beat Elena Rybakina in the quarter final, Maria Sakkari in the semifinal and Veronika Kudemertova in the final. At the Australian Open Sabalenka lost to Serena Williams in the fourth round, but she won the doubles title with her teammate Elise Mertens.
The Belarusian player won the Madrid Mutua Open title beating Ashleigh Barty in a re-match of the Porsche Indoor Grand Prix in Stuttgart.
At Grand Slam level Sabalenka beat Elena Rybakina and Ons Jabeur in straight sets to reach her first semifinal at Wimbledon before losing to Karolina Pliskova in three sets. She became the third woman from Belarus to reach the semifinal at the Wimbledon Championships following Natasha Zvereva in 1998 and Victoria Azarenka in 2011 and 2012.
Sabalenka beat Danielle Collins, Elise Mertens and Barbora Krejikova to reach her second consecutive Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open. She then lost to Leylah Fernandez in the semifinal.
In other tournaments she lost to Karolina Pliskova in straight sets in the semifinal at the Canadian Open in Montreal and beat Anett Kontaveit to advance to the quarter finals at the Dubai tournament before losing to Garbine Muguruza in three sets.
