LONDON: Arab No. 1 Malek Jaziri will be bidding to extend his breakthrough year when he faces Jared Donaldson at Wimbledon.
Jaziri, the Tunisian who is ranked 61 in the world, has been drawn against the 21-year-old American in the first round of the grass-court slam event, which starts on Monday, and will go into the match full of confidence after an impressive first half of the year.
He dumped top seed Grigor Dimitrov out of the Dubai Tennis Championships to claim the first top-10 victory of his career and went on to reach the semifinal. He then made it to the final of an ATP event for the first time, knocking out Marin Cilic enroute in Istanbul and then knocked former world No. 8 Mikhail Youzhny out of the French Open last month.
He is the first Arab since Moroccan Hicham Arazi in October 2004 to be ranked in the world’s top 50 and the first Arab ATP finalist since Moroccan Younes El-Aynaoui in 2003. It has been quite the rise for the 34-year-old. Jaziri credits the stark turnaround in his form to coach Christophe Freyss.
“This year I gave my full trust to my coach, I believe in the work we’re trying to do, it’s not easy at the age of 34,” Jaziri told Arab News last month. “You’ve played a certain way most of your career and suddenly you have to change. I gave everything I have to tennis, I sacrificed a lot, my family, everything … so I hope God rewards me for my efforts.”
Standing in his way at Wimbledon is Donaldson. The American has not gone beyond the third round of a slam, but he is not 22 until October and only turned pro four years ago. His is best known for his unsportsmanlike conduct at this year’s Monte Carlo Masters when he was was fined $6,200 after ranting at the chair umpire during his first-round loss to Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Jaziri has only been beyond the first round at Wimbledon once, and that was in 2012 when he lost to eventual quarterfinalist Philipp Kohlschreiber. Jaziri was knocked out in the first round last year by Lucas Pouille, the 14th seed.
Jaziri will receive £39,000 for playing in the first round and should he beat Donaldson, he will meet Stefanos Tsitsipas or Grégoire Barrère in the second round. This will be only the third time Jaziri and Donaldson have met, with Jaziri winning a three-setter in Illinois in 2012 and Donaldson levelling the head-to-head record with a another three-set win in Miami two years ago.
Arab star Malek Jaziri drawn against Jared Donaldson at Wimbledon
Arab star Malek Jaziri drawn against Jared Donaldson at Wimbledon
- Jaziri has not been beyond the second round
- Tunisian has beaten Dimitrov, Cilic and Youzhny this year
Arsenal thrash Villa 4-1 while Chelsea and Man Utd both held
- Arsenal end Aston Villa’s 11-game winning streak
- Wolves earn third point of season against Man United
LONDON: Arsenal closed out 2025 in emphatic fashion, smashing third-placed Aston Villa 4-1 on Tuesday to surge five points clear at the top of the Premier League.
Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers, who collected their third point of the season, while Bournemouth grabbed a point at stuttering Chelsea, forcing a 2-2 draw after a frantic first-half display.
Man United are sixth, level on 30 points with fifth-placed Chelsea.
At the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal slammed the door shut on charging Villa, ending their club-record winning run of 11 games.
Goals by Gabriel Magalhaes and Martin Zubimendi early in the second half gave Arsenal control of a game that had looked fraught with danger.
Gabriel bundled in the opener from a corner in the 48th minute before Martin Odegaard slid a pass through for Zubimendi to score four minutes later. Arsenal secured the points when Leandro Trossard fired home from the edge of the area before Gabriel Jesus came off the bench to add the fourth.
Ollie Watkins grabbed a consolation goal for Villa in stoppage time.
“I think it was amazing,” Jesus told Sky Sports. “It’s always hard to play against them... The mentality of the team is really, really growing and each game is growing even more and I think we are winning today because of the mentality.”
Arsenal top the standings with 45 points, while second-placed Manchester City can close the gap when they play at Sunderland on Thursday.
Villa are six points adrift of Arsenal.
It took six minutes at Stamford Bridge for Bournemouth to shock Chelsea when David Brooks grabbed the opener. Cole Palmer equalized from the spot in the 15th minute and Fernandez put Chelsea ahead with a bullet shot eight minutes later.
Justin Kluivert brought Bournemouth back level in the 27th, to grab a point, adding to the London side’s unenviable record of one win in seven league games. Chelsea sit fifth, while Bournemouth are 10 spots below them.
Man Utd struggle
Manchester United striker Joshua Zirkzee made the most of a rare start by giving the depleted hosts the lead with a deflected shot from the edge of the box in the 27th minute.
But Wolves managed to level just before the break thanks to a header from Ladislav Krejci.
Patrick Dorgu briefly celebrated what he thought was a 90th-minute winner, but it was chalked off for offside.
“We struggled in all the game,” United boss Ruben Amorim said. “We had a lack of creation... the fluidity offensively wasn’t there.
“We didn’t play well. When you don’t play well with the ball, you struggle without it.”
Wolves have three points from 19 games, 15 points from the safety zone.
Newcastle United’s Joelinton scored after 65 seconds and Yoane Wissa doubled their lead five minutes later in a 3-1 thrashing of 19th-placed Burnley, who are winless in their last 10 games.
Josh Laurent pulled one back in the 23rd minute, but Bruno Guimaraes sealed Newcastle’s rare away win with a goal in stoppage time.
Everton climbed to eighth in the standings with a 2-0 win over their former manager Sean Dyche and Nottingham Forest thanks to goals from James Garner and Thierno Barry.
West Ham United drew 2-2 with Brighton & Hove Albion in a game that featured three penalties in the first half.
Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta, from the penalty spot, scored before the break for West Ham, while Brighton’s Danny Welbeck struck from the penalty spot in the 32nd minute but fired another off the crossbar.
Joel Veltman scored for Brighton in the 61st minute to secure the draw.
There are four more games on New Year’s Day, including fourth-placed Liverpool hosting Leeds United at Anfield.
