Ons Jabeur, 28, couldn’t hide his joy after reaching the round of 16 at the US Open for the first time in his career and vowed to keep fighting for the rest of the tournament.
On Friday, fifth-seeded Jabeur beat American Shelby Rogers 4-6 6-4 6-3 to advance to the round of 16 at Flushing Meadows. Eight years after making his US Open main draw debut, Jabeur has finally reached week two of the tournament.
“Finally,” Jabeur said after reaching week two of the US Open for the first time in his career, according to the WTA website. “Reaching week two of the US Open means a lot.
You know, I know I’m not playing my best hard court tennis, but it’s always amazing how I improve, how I push my limits. I don’t want to stop there.”
“You know how much I love New York, how much I want to be here. It’s amazing to work so hard, even though the preparation for the season on the court hasn’t been very good.
But the main reason for being here and the main goal for me is always to play well in New York. I’m just going to keep fighting, pushing harder and breaking my records here.”
Jabeur recovered from a slow start to beat Rogers
Jabeur had a rather slow start to the game as she struggled to hold her serve. Jabeur broke Rogers twice in the first set, but lost serve three times and Rogers won the first set.
After being broken three times in the first set, Jabeur did a good job of holding her serve in the second set. The first break of the second set was seen in the ninth game, when Jabeur broke Rogers for a 5-4 lead.
In the 10th game, Jabeur served for the second set. After winning the second set, Jabeur started the third set with back-to-back breaks and a 4-0 lead.
Rogers saved five match points in game seven and salvaged a break in game eight, but was broken again in game nine – as she served to stay in the game. Jabeur will now face Veronika Kudermetova.
