Every time Ons Jabeur steps on a tennis court, the Tunisian does something to rewrite the history books and Monday was no different.

In a thrilling fourth round, Jabeur upset No.7 seed Iga Swiatek 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 to become the first Arab or North African – man or woman – to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals since Egypt’s Ismail El Shafei in 1974.

The No.21 seed posted the sixth top-10 victory of her career to move into the last-eight stage at a Grand Slam for the second time, and first at The Championships.

She will now look to become the first Arab in the Open era to reach a major semi-final when she takes on No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka on Tuesday.

“It was a great match. I lost the 5-3 lead at the end of the first set, I had to close it but then I stayed calm; I didn’t think getting angry would be the answer for me, so I just stepped in, point by point and played my game,” an elated Jabeur told Mats Wilander on court as Arabic chants bellowed around the stadium.

“You have to change it up a little bit, everybody knows I’m doing drop shots now. But honestly I didn’t feel the need to do any drop shots today, just a few times. Being aggressive was the key today and that’s what I did.”

Jabeur was facing a third Grand Slam champion in a row, following victories over five-time Wimbledon winner Venus Williams and 2017 champion Garbine Muguruza.

Swiatek and Jabeur have both won majors as juniors but their career trajectories could not have been more different. Swiatek won the girls’ singles title at Wimbledon in 2018 and became a women’s singles champion at Roland-Garros two years later at the age of 19.

Meanwhile, it took Jabeur eight and a half years after she lifted the junior trophy in Paris in 2011 to reach a maiden Grand Slam women’s quarter-final at the Australian Open in 2020.

In their only previous meeting, Swiatek came back from a set and 1-4 down to defeat Jabeur in Washington in 2019.

The Tunisian took down the Swiatek serve in game one and fended off three break points to forge a 3-1 lead. But the No.7 seed pegged her back and was soon on level terms at 3-3.

A forehand winner helped Jabeur to a break and another two-game advantage. The 26-year-old hit her first double fault of the match while serving for the opening set and despite saving a string of break points, a blistering forehand return winner from Swiatek followed by another Jabeur double fault saw the Pole level for 5-5.

The pair were putting on a show and the No.2 Court crowd was loving it. Jabeur would flick a lob that landed right in the corner, only for Swiatek to respond with an around-the-net-post winner on the very next point. The 20-year-old Swiatek found her range from the baseline and put immense pressure on the Jabeur serve to clinch the fourth game in a row and secure a one-set lead.

In a scenario similar to the start of the match, Swiatek got broken early in the second set but this time Jabeur put her foot on the accelerator and came up with some creative point construction, to break again and was soon up 4-0.

She forced a deciding set with a drop shot return winner Swiatek didn’t even attempt to retrieve. Jabeur won 13/14 points behind her first serve during the near-perfect second set, and hit just six unforced errors.

Jabeur broke Swiatek twice in the final set as the Pole failed to find her rhythm on serve and the North African lifted her arms in triumph when she punched her ticket into the quarter-finals on the 81-minute mark.

Testament to how clutch she was during the duel, Jabeur finished the match with a perfect 7/7 success rate on break points, and she saved 12/15 on her own serve.

The Birmingham champion has now won 10 of her 11 matches on grass this season.

Swiatek hailed Jabeur’s “intelligent tennis” and could not hide her disappointment after the defeat.

“I had a great week last week. Right now it's pretty hard to actually see that because I just lost, but it's tennis. You're probably always going to lose the last match,” said a dejected Swiatek.

“You kind of have to get used to it a little bit, because tennis is a bit frustrating. You can have great week, but then, you know, just lose and you forget that you had a nice tournament.

“I'm trying not to do that. I'm trying to see how much I have learned and how I was feeling even before the first round. Like winning just one match was a great achievement for me. This grass season is really a positive for me and it gave me a lot. I hope I'm going to use that in future years."

Jabeur said it was a heartwarming moment for her hearing Tunisian football chants from the stands, adding it was “amazing” to get so much support against a top player like Swiatek.

Off the court, Jabeur has been soaking up the support from fellow players including 20-time grand Slam champion Roger Federer.

“Actually I got congratulated by Roger after my match, which was amazing. I think now I'm good in my tennis career,” said the Tunisian with a grin.

“He was very nice. He took the time to say congrats. That inspires me a lot and gives me the hunger to win more.”