Ons Jabeur blesses the rains down in Charleston

Ons Jabeur says that a rain delay helped her close out a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Daria Kasatkina at the Charleston Open on Saturday.

Jabeur reached her second consecutive Charleston Open final after winning the rain-hit clash with the Russian No 1.

The Tunisian recovered from being a double-break down in the first set and a break down in the second to claim a straight sets win that takes her out to 5-2 over Kasatkina at WTA Tour level.

Jabeur missed much of February and March after undergoing surgery but has looked close to ber best on the clay in Charleston.

She jokingly thanked the rain for aiding her victory as she was able to talk to her coach.

“I have to thank the rain,” Jabeur said on court.

“It allowed me to talk to my coach a bit and he gave me some advice and reflect on what happened in the first set.

“My game was there, I just needed to find something small.

“I was more patient definitely after, I was building my point more and that really helped me.”

Kasatkina took a 4-1 lead in the opening set with a double-break, while Jabeur struggled to find her first serve in the early parts of the match.

However, Jabeur swiftly broke Kasatkina’s serve as the Russian looked to close out the first set at 5-2.

Rain halted play in the very next game but when they returned, Jabeur rattled off a sequence of four game wins that gae her the first set.

Kasatkina broke to start the second set, but again battled to maintain her lead. Jabeur broke back to tie the set at 2-2 and then broke again in the match’s longest game, a six-deuce back and forth, to lead 5-3. Kasatkina broke again to extend the match, but with the score 6-5, 15-15, the World No.8 made her third double-fault of the match, bringing Jabeur within two points of a second consecutive Charleston Open Final.

Jabeur will await the outcome of the second semi-final, which was suspended due to the weather.

The clash between Pegula and Bencic was suspended for rain with the Swiss up 7-5, 6-6 but the American leading 4-2 in the second set tiebreak.

That match will resume on Sunday afternoon with the final to follow ‘after suitable rest’.

Jabeur holds a 4-2 lead in her head-to-head against Pegula while she has split four encounters with Belinda Bencic evenly.

Bencic beat Jabeur in last season’s Charleston Open final.