Ons Jabeur was expected to continue her solid play at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Open against Beatriz Haddad Maia, but she ran into an inspired opponent.
This was a fascinating matchup that seemed to favour the Tunisian. However, it went very differently as she failed to counter some very inspired play by Haddad Maia, who has Arab ancestry herself.
Being in this part of the world, where her roots are, is certainly very inspiring for the Brazilian, and she delivered on the court as well.
Jabeur had her typical struggles, which were mostly her struggles to be consistent. Great at times, even amazing, but simply not good enough. Haddad Maia is a consistent example that can give Jabeur trouble as she doesn't go too up and not too much down.
The opening set was like that, as Haddad Maia jumped out to an early lead and simply held it from there on. Jabeur tried some things but never quite found a break point, which shows how consistent the Brazilian is with players.
The second set was quite a bit more exciting as Haddad Maia took an early lead, but Jabeur battled back to make it 2-2. From there, we saw a few solid games from both players until the Tunisian dropped her serve first.
Haddad Maia had to work really hard to close out the match, though. Jabeur pushed and got to 40-15 on the Brazilian's serve when she was serving for the match, but she couldn't really win that final point.
She eventually faced a match point and saved it, after which she got another break point, but once again, she didn't use it.
Ultimately, Haddad Maia got another match point and, this time around, closed it out for a 6-3, 6-4 scoreline. It was a very good win for Haddad Maia, who moves on to the semi-finals.
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