Ons Jabeur needed two hours and 12 minutes on Saturday evening to get past Olga Danilovic in their third-round clash at the French Open. The seventh seed eventually posted a comeback 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over the Serbian.
Danilovic, who qualified for the main draw, was the first to break Jabeur’s serve in the opening set, in the eighth game. However, a couple of winners from Jabeur saw her get the break back in the ninth game as Danilovic tried to serve for the set. Still, the 10th game proved to be decisive in the 22-year-old’s favour as she secured a second break to take the lead in the match.
The Tunisian’s comeback was swift as she went up a 4-2 lead in the second set. But a break back on Jabeur’s serve in the eighth game brought the proceedings back on serve. And as it’d happened in the first, a second break came right away – this time of Danilovic’s serve – which gave Jabeur the chance to serve out the set and level the match, in the 10th game.
Jabeur raced away through the third set securing a double-break and although Danilovic recovered one of the two breaks back in the sixth game, a third break on her serve in the seventh game allowed Jabeur to serve for the match in the eighth.
The world no. 7 had 30 winners to Danilovic’s 29 and 32 unforced errors to the latter’s 39. This is the third time Jabeur’s made it this far in Paris. Now, wanting to reach the quarter-finals for the first time here, Jabeur will play Bernarda Pera.
French Open: Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, Lesia Tsurenko cruise
The American defeated Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-2, 7-6(2) in their third-round encounter.
Bianca Andreescu lost in the third round at the hands of Lesia Tsurenko. The Ukrainian dropped only two games – one game each in each set – in her 62-minute victory over the Canadian. Tsurenko will now play Iga Swiatek.
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova reached the fourth round of a Major for the first time with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Kayla Day. The Slovakian will play sixth seed Coco Gauff next.
Lastly, Beatriz Haddad Maia also moved into the fourth round of the French Open. The Brazilian, the 14th seed, however, won a roller coaster of a match against 23rd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 after almost three hours of play.
Photo Credit: French Open Twitter