Ons Jabeur will battle for Wimbledon glory against Marketa Vondrousova in the women's singles final thanks to respective semi-final wins for the pair on Thursday.
The unseeded Vondrousova ended Elina Svitolina's dreams of SW19 stardom with a 6-3 6-3 win over the Ukrainian wildcard, before Jabeur pulled off an exceptional comeback to defeat Aryna Sabalenka 6-7[7] 6-4 6-3.
Both Vondrousova and crowd favourite Svitolina had upset top-ranked players to make the final four, with the former defeating fourth seed Jessica Pegula in the quarters while Svitolina stunned world number one Iga Swiatek.
However, the Ukrainian was - for the most part - a shadow of the player who knocked out Swiatek on Tuesday, and a late rally proved futile as she bowed out with 75 minutes on the clock.
The duo exchanged breaks in the fifth and sixth game of the opening set, but Svitolina's reprieve was short-lived, as a spate of unforced errors saw her lose serve once more in the seventh game before Vondrousova held to love.
Thanks to a succession of winners, the Czech broke Svitolina for the third time to take the opening set, and a beleaguered Svitolina would seemingly bow out with a whimper as she fell 4-0 down in the second set.
However, with the Centre Court crowd roaring her on, Svitolina threatened a spectacular turnaround as she reduced the deficit to 3-4, but another break for Vondrousova in the eighth game brought the Ukrainian crashing back down to earth before the world number 42 held to 30 to reach only her second major final.
Vondrousova - who missed six months of the 2022 season due to a wrist operation - lost to Ashleigh Barty in her maiden Grand Slam final at the 2019 French Open, but she had previously never gone beyond the second round at Wimbledon.
Standing in Vondrousova's way of Grand Slam glory is another player chasing a maiden major triumph of her own, as sixth seed Jabeur incredibly came back from a set and a break down to see off good friend Salabenka in three sets.
Last year's beaten finalist had already earned her revenge over reigning champion Elena Rybakina in the last eight, while Sabalenka had not dropped a set since the second round, but the African trailblazer came up with a selection of sumptuous down-the-line winners to complete a tremendous fightback.
Despite coming up with a whopping 21 errors in the first set compared to just five from Jabeur, Sabalenka saved the three break points she faced from the Tunisian, who subsequently led 4-2 in the tie-breaker thanks to a wonderful forehand winner down the line.
However, Jabeur's advantage quickly vanished, as a resurgent Sabalenka won four points on the bounce and took the opener on a long forehand return from last year's runner-up, letting out a battle cry in the process.
The Belarusian went a set and a break up in the fifth game of the second thanks to a double fault from Jabeur, but not long after, it was Sabalenka's turn to pay the price for an untimely error on serve, as a double fault and backhand into the net allowed Jabeur to break back for 4-4.
With Sabalenka serving to stay in the set, a backhand error brought up an opportunity for Jabeur to level the match, and the Tunisian capitalised; a stunning return on the backhand side took the semi-final to a third set.
Jabeur drew first blood in the decider as Sabalenka lost her serve in the sixth game, but the Tunisian squandered two match points on the second seed's serve, both of which were fashioned on unsuccessful challenges from Sabalenka.
Jabeur's frustration continued as she let another two match points on serve slip through her grasp, but she made no mistake on her fifth such opportunity, coming up with just her third ace of the match to reach a third Grand Slam final. body check tags ::
