Jabeur, Rublev progress to fourth round at French Open
Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur scored a major upset by defeating the eighth seed, Aryana Sabalenka of Belarus 7/6(7); 2/6; 6/3 while the 13th seed, Andre Rublev of Russia routed South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 6/3; 6/2; 6/3.
The victory marks the first time Jabeur reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament. Jabeur prevailed nine points to seven to take the tiebreaker in a hard fought first set. Sabalenka dominated the second set, in which she broke Jabeur’s serve twice.
The Tunisian secured a single break to win the final set 6/3. While both women delivered about the same number of aces, the Aryana double faulted 7 times and Aryana converted only 4 out of 11 break opportunities while Ons made 3 out of 13. At the finish line, Ons tallied 105 points to Aryana’s 102.
The 13th seeded Rublev secured the first set on a single break. In the entire match, he neutralised the powerful serve of Anderson’s who hammered a total of seven aces and committed seven double faults, especially at critical moments. The Russian made six aces but only one double fault. While the Russian won five of 13 break opportunities, he did not face a single break threat on his serve.
Sofia Kenin, the fourth seed, lost the first two games but won 12 games in a stretch to defeat Romania’s Irina Bara 6/2; 6/0 in Philippe-Chatrier Stadium. Hitting drop shots galore, the American denied her opponent three game opportunities in the seventh game and cancelled three break threats in the eighth game of the first set played in 36 minutes.
In the second set, Kenin cancelled two break threats in the eight-minute second game, which she won after losing the advantage thrice. The Australian Open champion ran out the second set 6-0.
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