Ons Jabeur has been a steady performer in Australia for years, and she started the 2024 Australian Open campaign off strongly.
This off-season has been one of the most important in Jabeur's life as she's worked very hard to put herself in a position to achieve her dreams. The Tunisian had a documentary released about her life recently in which she opened up about some of the painful losses she had.
She shared a lot of personal details as well, which highlighted the sacrifices she made for tennis. It makes this season even more important, and luckily, it started well for the Tunisian, who debuted not just on the court, but also with her new clothing sponsor.
Round one was an easy win for Jabeur as she hopes to advance past the quarter-final, which is the career-best result in Melbourne. Yulia Starodubtseva might be a solid player, but it was evident pretty quickly that she was no match for Jabeur.
Despite losing her serve first, the three-time Grand Slam finalist quickly established order by breaking back and then adding another break en route to a 6-3 opening set win.
Neither player played that well from the baseline, as both kind of struggled to keep the ball in play. It wasn't a very clean match, but Jabeur applied heavy pressure on her opponent, which she couldn't handle, resulting in 21 unforced errors in 9 games of play.
The second set didn't offer anything different, even though both were a tiny bit more precise. The Ukranian kept making a lot of mistakes, which can prove costly against Jabeur. An early break set the Tunisian on the right path, and from there, it was a simple journey to the finish line.
The final score ended up being 6-3, 6-1 as Jabeur moved on to the second round of the tournament. It was a pretty solid win, albeit with somewhat shaky play. She'll need to improve in the next round.
Ons Jabeur vs Yulia Starodubsteva Match Stats:
| Ons Jabeur | Yulia Starodubsteva | |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Aces | 0 |
| 1 | Double Faults | 2 |
| 51% | First Serve % | 66% |
| 75% | Points Won After First Serve % | 44% |
| 48% | Points Won After Second Serve % | 45% |
| 6/12 | Break Point Conversion | 2/4 |
| 15 | Winners | 5 |
| 28 | Unforced Errors | 35 |
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