Ons Jabeur created history by winning the Madrid Open crown.
Her three-set win over the American Jessica Pegula ensured that she became the first Arab woman to lift a WTA 1000 event title.
The Tunisian won the match with the scores of 7-5 0-6 6-2 in a highly entertaining final in the Spanish capital.
Jabeur had a battle on her hands from the get-go and survived a set point in the first set and a second-set bagel before gritting her way to a 1-hour and 54-minute victory over Pegula.
Pegula raced to a 4-1 lead in the opening set before Jabeur pulled things back on serve. But the American was still the first to reach a set point on Jabeur’s serve at 5-4.
A backhand winner by Jabeur erased that chance as the Tunisian turned the set around from there breaking Pegula at love for 6-5 and then serving out the set.
Untimely errors by the No.8th seed while down breakpoints put her in a deep hole in the second set which Pegula won without the loss of a game.
Jabeur, however, earned a crucial love break to lead 2-1 in the third set and regain momentum as she jumped to a 5-2 lead in the decider.
The Tunisian came back from 0-30 down in the following game to reach championship point with a forehand winner and closed out the clash adding to her groundbreaking accolades.
With the biggest career title in her pocket, 27-year-old Jabeur is projected to return to her career-high position of World No.7 in new rankings.
The triumph also helped improve her record in the WTA singles finals.
Ons Jabeur before the Madrid Open title was just 1-4 in finals including a tight three-set loss to Belinda Bencic in the Charleston championship match last month.
