Ons Jabeur overcame breathing difficulties to cruise to a hard victory by 2-0 (7:5, 7:6) victory over Camila Osorio Serrano (Colombia) in the first round of the US Open. The 5th-seeded Tunisian tennis player showed character in a two-hour battle on the “Louis Armstrong” court.
“Tough match, she’s playing amazing, and I’m not feeling very well today”, said Ons Jabeur in her on-court interview before the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to her on her 29th birthday.
The Tunisian, who has lost the last two Wimbledon finals and suffered the same fate at the 2022 US Open, was in complete control early on as she broke twice to take a 4:1 lead. Gradually, Ons Jabeur gave up physically, and at 4:3 she told the chair umpire that she was having trouble breathing, and after losing her fourth game in a row, she sought medical attention and spent several minutes on her chair while a doctor took her blood pressure. The Tunisian still found strength, won the next three games and took the first set 7:5 after nearly an hour of play.
In the second set, Ons Jabeur broke for 4:3 and then served to win the match, but the Colombian refused to give up, saved two match points and brought the set to a tiebreak, in which, however, the greater class of the Tunisian paid off and she won with 7-4.
In the next round, Ons Jabeur will face Czech teenager Linda Noskova, who eliminated Madison Brengle (USA) by 2-0 (6:2, 6:1).
In the other matches from the day, Ekaterina Alexandrova (Russia) defeated Leylah Fernandez (Canada) by 2-1 (7:6, 5:7, 6:4), while Katie Boulter (Great Britain) eliminated Diane Parry (France) by 2-0 (6:4, 6:0) and Tamara Korpatsch (Germany) won her match versus Irina-Camelia Begu (Romania) by 2-0 (6:3, 6:2).
The 14th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova (Russia) also advanced to the second round after eliminated Claire Liu (USA0 by 2-0 (7:6, 6:3), as well as Marie Bouzkova (Czech Republic), who defeated Ashlyn Krueger (USA) by 2-0 (7:5, 6:4).
