Ons Jabeur was quick in her fourth-round match at the 2023 Roland Garros, beating Bernarda Pera in just 64 minutes.
Last year, the Tunisian reached two Grand Slam finals, at Wimbledon and US Open, and in her career, she played at least a quarterfinal at every major, except for the Roland Garros. Entering this year's event as the seventh seed, Jabeur was determined to change that.
She started well when she swept past Lucia Bronzetti and she navigated even a difficult match against a French player Oceane Dodin, but especially the French crowd. After also beating an inspired Olga Danilovic, the former World No. 2 took on Bernarda Pera from the United States.
The American was one of the highest-ranked players on the WTA Tour that were unseeded, but that didn't bother her as she overcame Anett Kontaveit, Donna Vekic, and Elisabetta Cociaretto without losing a set.
But against Jabeur, it was a different story. It was a story of the Tunisian's return, but especially the inability to do anything with her serve on Pera's side. The American won only one of 16 rallies after her second serve, and after her first serve, she won only 38% of points.
Moreover, she hit only 13 winners while producing 33 unforced errors and her struggles were obvious especially when serving. Pera was broken in every one of her service games and despite breaking her opponent's serve four times, that wasn't enough since she was broken eight times.
On top of that, Jabeur was perfect when she had break points. The Tunisian used eight of her nine chances to break her opponent and it wasn't a surprise when she victoriously celebrated after beating Pera 6-3, 6-1 in only an hour and four minutes.
Due to being so fast, Jabeur will now have time to watch the match played simultaneously at the Roland Garros between the 14th-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia and Sara Sorribes Tormo as one of those to players will be her quarterfinal opponent.
0 Comments