The talent of Ons Jabeur has never been in doubt. Between her sweet, delicate hand skills, the boundless creativity she plays with and her possession of one of the most potent forehands across the land, she has always had everything within her game to defeat the best. But whether she had the mental toughness in the tightest moments of the biggest matches was not always certain. Not when she was young, green and still finding her way on the WTA tour, and not even as she slowly began to mature into the top athlete she is today, one who still has plenty of room to improve. On her Centre Court debut against the 2017 Wimbledon champion, Garbine Muguruza, the 26-year-old provided the one of most convincing answers of her blossoming career as she demonstrated grit and quality alike by recovering from a set down to win 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 and reach the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time in her career. She will face Iga Swiatek of Poland on Monday in another fascinating encounter. Over the past decade, since Jabeur first rose to prominence, it has been rare not to hear her name spoken without the term ‘trailblazer’ shortly afterwards. Rightly so. These days, she is making history almost every time she steps on to the court. Ten years ago, she became the first Arab and African girl to win a junior grand slam at the French Open. Last year, she was the first woman from her region to reach a major quarter-final, three years after having already trodden new ground in the French Open third round. It has only continued. Less than two weeks ago in Birmingham, she finally became the first Arab and African to win a WTA title after badly failing to close out a final in Charleston in April. She is now ranked 24th, 51 spots above the next-highest-ranked Arab female player in history, Selima Sfar, and the first into the second week of Wimbledon. Beyond her identity and all that she means to both the game and her home country, Jabeur is also just wild, unabashed fun. Off the court, she is one of the most sociable players who seems to charm every rival who crosses her path. On the court, she plays with such flowing freedom at her best that she tends to win over crowds wherever she goes. Those who entered Centre Court with little knowledge of Jabeur soon found out. Within the first few games alone, Jabeur hit the undisputed shot of the day, an absurd round-the-post forehand winner in response to a very good Muguruza drop shot. She executed an unending string of drop shots that were breathtaking at times, and badly misdirected at others. She even earned strong applause for her football juggling skills between points and, as usual, she obliterated forehands for fun. The crowd’s allegiances slowly shifted from the familiar former champion to her dynamic, creative challenger. In those early exchanges, Jabeur’s streakiness could have been her downfall against a focused and intense Muguruza, refreshed after recent injury struggles, who closed out the opening set after some supreme returning. Instead, Jabeur spent the following two sets turning the momentum around. She served exceptionally well through her tight service games early in the second set and as she became increasingly comfortable, she slowly took control of the baseline, dominating with that crushing forehand. Jabeur played at such a high level throughout the final two sets, but that will not be the most memorable moment of the match. Rather, it was during the long deuce game at 3-1 in the final set on Muguruza’s serve. After a wild forehand from the Spaniard on break point, Jabeur thought she had held serve. Fans began to stream to and from their seats and Jabeur walked towards her chair, before Muguruza’s hawkeye challenge showed that her forehand had landed in by about a millimetre. They returned to their respective baselines and the game went on. At other times in her career that could have changed the complexion of the match, but not on Friday. Jabeur returned to the baseline and, after an extended tussle, she sealed the double break with one of 19 clean forehand winners. Not long after that, she had clinched one of the great wins of her career. It goes without saying that more history was made.