Eighth seed Ons Jabeur continued her latest bid to become the first Arab and African woman to claim a Grand Slam title with a tough 6-4 7-6(5) victory over Canadian-Filipino Leylah Fernandez that put her into the French Open fourth round on Friday.
Tunisian Jabeur has come within touching distance of Grand Slam glory in the past, reaching the last two Wimbledon finals and the 2022 U.S. Open title clash but the 29-year-old has not been able to cross the finish line.
A third-round meeting with fellow former Flushing Meadows runner-up Fernandez represented a tricky challenge and the pair exchanged breaks midway through the opening set before Jabeur took control of the contest on serve.
With limited success when she peppered the Suzanne Lenglen surface with her trademark drop shots against quick-moving 31st seed Fernandez, Jabeur quickly found herself trailing 3-1 in the second set.
“Everybody knows Leylah, she plays very well. She’s a very aggressive player,” said Jabeur. “I knew that I had to finish the match before the third set and I won some points at the right moments. It was a bit tough on serve but I’m very happy to win.”
Jabeur, a quarter-finalist here last year, took the next two games to go level, before saving a set point in a five-deuce game and eventually completed the victory with an ice-cool show in the tie break.
Up next for Jabeur is unseeded Dane Clara Tauson, who stunned former runner-up Sofia Kenin 6-2 7-5.
Highlights of Day 6 at Flushing Medows
Easy for Vondrousova
Wimbledon champion and Czech fifth seed Marketa Vondrousova brushed aside French wildcard Chloe Paquet 6-1 6-3 to reach the fourth round where she will face Serbia’s Olga Danilovic.
Paquet, 29, was the only wildcard entrant in the women’s singles tournament who progressed beyond the first round.
Sinner wins, but Rublev falls
Australian Open champion and Italian second seed Jannik Sinner beat Russia’s Pavel Kotov 6-4 6-4 6-4 to reach the fourth round, as matches on the outer courts and Court Simonne-Mathieu resumed after rain subsided.
However, sixth seed Andrey Rublev suffered a 7-6(6) 6-2 6-4 third-round defeat to Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi with the frustrated Russian slamming his racket to the ground, kicking his bench and shouting at himself during an error-filled performance.
Rublev is the second seeded player to lose to the 23-year-old Italian, with Arnaldi knocking out 29th seed Arthur Fils in the first round.
Qualifier Danilovic stuns Vekic
Serbian qualifier Olga Danilovic overcame a first-set bagel to defeat Croat Donna Vekic 0-6 7-5 7-6(8) in a nail-biting encounter that lasted three hours and eight minutes to advance to the last 16. Vekic served for the match twice in the final set but Danilovic’s resilience led to a thrilling tiebreak triumph.
“I don’t know what to say I have no word, thank you for supporting me in this match,” Danilovic said. “I am enjoying my time here but I don’t even know how I won this match I was down so many times.”
“There have been so many rain delays but the folks that come to watch, merci beaucoup… I love clay I love Paris, going through (for the first time) means the world to me.”
Gauff marches on
U.S. Open Champion Coco Gauff beat Dayana Yastremska 6-2 6-4. The Ukrainian tried to put up a fight after Gauff went a break up at 4-2 in the second set but the American battled on and sealed victory in her bid to win a second grand slam title.
“I definitely could have closed it out on my serve (earlier)but I got a little bit unlucky. It is definitely tough to keep mental stability and I get mad,” Gauff said.
“But I am glad to go through, close it out in my second match point.” Gauff will face Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the last 16.
Cocciaretto, 23, beat Russian 17th seed Liudmila Samsonova 7-6(4) 6-2 to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time.
“I think I played unbelievable the first game… after that I was over-thinking,” Cocciaretto said. “I said to myself: play with the heart and not with the brain… I tried to stay in the game and to fight… I’m really really happy to play in this court and be in the fourth round for the first time. It’s unbelievable for me right now.”
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