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July 8 (UPI) -- No. 3 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia is expected to make more tennis history as the favorite to beat No. 17 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in the Wimbledon women's singles final Saturday in London. Jabeur will face Rybakina at 9 a.m. EDT on ESPN. No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia will battle Australian Nick Kyrgios in the men's final at 9 a.m. Sunday on the same network.
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Both Jabeur and Rybakina will appear in a Grand Slam singles final for the first time.
Jabeur is looking to become the first Arab woman to claim a major singles title. She also could become the first African woman to win a Grand Slam in the Open era, which started in 1968.
"I want to go big," Jabeur told reporters Thursday. "I want to inspire more generations.
"Tunisia is connected to the Arab world. It's connected to the African continent. We want to see more players. I want to see more players from my country, the Middle East and from Africa.
"Hopefully people are inspired."
Rybakina also will take the court with an interesting storyline, as tournament organizers could hand the trophy to a native Russian, despite the ban on Russian and Belarusian players due to the invasion of Ukraine.
Rybakina switched from the Russian to Kazakhstan tennis federation in 2018, which cleared her path to play. She now could become the first representative of Kazakhstan to win a Grand Slam.
"I feel for the players who couldn't come here, but I'm just enjoying playing here on the biggest stage," Rybakina said. "I'm enjoying my time and trying to do my best."
The men's final will feature much more major experience, but that seasoning is a bit one-sided. Djokovic is a 20-time Grand Slam champion, while Kyrgios will make his Grand Slam singles final debut.
"I never thought I'd be playing for the men's title," Kyrgios told reporters Friday. "I feel like it's the pinnacle of tennis. Once you are able to raise a Grand Slam trophy, what else is there to achieve?
"I'm super proud and ready to go."
Matchups
The women's final will feature a vast difference in height between the 5-foot-6 Jabeur and 6-foot Rybakina.
Jabeur is known for her accurate forehand, a rotation of deceptive service styles, movement, creativity and mental strength.
Rybakina uses her size to fuel an overpowering serve. She also channels that force into her forehand and backhand, but sometimes struggles against more mobile foes.
Jabeur is 2-1 in career matches against Rybakina. The Tunisian lost their first meeting in 2019, but beat Rybakina twice in 2021.
Jabeur won four of her six matches in straight sets en route to the Wimbledon final. She beat Sweden's Mirjam Bjorklund, Poland's Katarzyna Kawa, France's Diane Parry, Belgium's Elise Mertens, Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic and German Tatjana Maria.
Rybakina advanced with wins over American CoCo Vandeweghe, Canadian Bianca Andreescu, China's Zheng Qinwen, Croatian Petra Martic, Australian Ajla Tomljanovic and No. 16 Simona Halep of Romania.
She won five of her six matches in straight sets, including her semifinal victory over Halep.
The 6-foot-2 Djokovic and 6-foot-4 Kyrgios share a similar statures. Kyrgios is known as one of the best servers on the ATP Tour. He also is known for his aggression and competitiveness.
He uses several different swing techniques to fire fierce forehand returns and approaches the net with regularity to put pressure on opponents.
Djokovic, one of the best men's tennis players in history, doesn't display any glaring weaknesses. He uses expert positioning, accuracy on serves and returns and mental strength to break down opponents.
His defensive flexibility makes in nearly impossible for those foes to earn points. Kyrgios is 2-0 in career matches against Djokovic, but those wins both came in 2017.
"One thing is for sure, there will be a lot of fireworks emotionally from both of us," Djokovic said Friday in his on-court interview. "He doesn't have much to lose and he is always playing like that. It's a big game overall.
"We haven't played for some time. I've never won a set off him. Hopefully it can be different this time."
Djokovic, the tournament favorite, won just two of his six matches in straight sets. He beat South Korean SoonWoo Kwon, Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, No. 25 Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia, Tim van Rijthoven of the Netherlands, No. 10 Jannik Sinner of Italy and No. 9 Cameron Norrie of England en route to the finale.
Kyrgios also won two of his matches in straight sets at Wimbledon. He started his run to the final with a first-round win over England's Paul Jubb. He then beat No. 26 Filip Krajinovic of Serbia and upset No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.
Kyrgios beat American Brandon Nakashima in the Round of 16 and Chilean Cristian Garin in the quarterfinals.
He then earned a free pass to the finals due to No. 2 Rafael Nadal withdrawal from the semifinals. The Spaniard pulled out of the tournament Thursday due to a torn abdominal muscle.
"As a competitor, I really did want that match," Kyrgios said. "He is someone I had so many good battles with before. .... I'm not going to say it's not exciting to say I have the chance to play for a Grand Slam singles title is pretty cool."
Jabeur and Djokovic are heavy favorites.
