Ons Jabeur extended her winning streak by beating Ashlyn Krueger in the first round of the 2023 China Open despite some minor problems.
Getting off to a winning start in the event after winning a trophy is far harder than most people imagine. Quite a few players have problems with that and it comes down to fatigue and just the emotional roller coaster such a week of tennis carries.
It wasn't that much of a problem for Ons Jabeur, who was facing a very tricky opponent who played really strong tennis in recent weeks. The Tunisian was spectacular recently as well, winning a trophy in Ningbo last week, and she extended her winning streak with this win.
The first set was a pretty close one for the first sex games, as the score was 3-3 at that time. After that, Jabeur completely outplayed her opponent to take the opening set 6-3. She faced far more resistance in the second set as Krueger actually jumped out to a lead in this one.
It was 2-0, but then Jabeur did one of her magic tricks, and suddenly, the score showed 4-2 for her. It's amazing how the Tunisian can flip the switch so quickly, but it's a double-edged sword. It goes both ways, so she dropped her serve immediately after taking the 4-2 lead.
Her matches are a must-watch because they're always a roller coaster with all sorts of twists and turns. Krueger found some momentum then and pushed Jabeur a bit, but the Tunisian once again found solutions.
She held her serve for the 5-4 lead and then applied just enough pressure to finally create match points. She wasted the first one but used the second one to close out the match. The final score was 6-3 6-4 for the Tunisian who has now won six straight matches.
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