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Jabeur, currently ranked 14th, reached the final of the Chicago
Fall Tennis Classic earlier this month and became the first Arab
player to win a WTA title at the Birmingham Classic in June.
The 27-year-old defeated Estonia's Anett Kontaveit 7-5 6-3 in
Thursday's quarter-final in the California desert, converting
five of her 12 break-point chances on the way to her 48th match
win of the season, the most of any player on the Tour this
season.
"Like this is a dream coming true. This is something that I've
been wanting... when I was 16," Jabeur said.
"Top 10 is the beginning. I know I deserve this place for a long
time since I was playing well. But I want to prove that I
deserve to be here."
Jabeur, who will face Spain's Paula Badosa in her first WTA 1000
semi-final on Friday, said she faced many obstacles in her
career because of her background.
"I've been rejected by sponsors because of where I come from,
which is so not fair," she said. "I didn't understand why
before, I accepted it. I am really proud of the person I became
today, just not relying on others.
"Everybody probably had a difficult career. I'm not saying I
have the most difficult one.
"I didn't want to depend on a sponsor or someone who doesn't
even care about tennis or sport in general. It gave me the
courage to continue and achieve my goals, and I'm in top 10
today."
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York and Manasi Pathak in
Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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