GUADALAJARA: In an astonishing turn of events, top-seeded Ons Jabeur suffered a dramatic exit from the WTA 1000 Guadalajara Open on Wednesday. The Tunisian tennis sensation, a two-time losing finalist at Wimbledon in the past two years, endured a grueling three-hour battle, ultimately succumbing to Italy’s Martina Trevisan.
The unseeded Trevisan, presently ranked 54th in the world, delivered a stunning performance, securing a 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 6-3 victory over the world number seven, Jabeur. Jabeur had appeared to have control of the match after clinching the first set in a tie-break and taking a 30-0 lead while serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set.
However, Trevisan staged a remarkable comeback, breaking Jabeur’s serve twice in quick succession to level the match. The 29-year-old Italian, aiming for only her second WTA title, then broke to claim a 5-3 lead in the deciding set before sealing her hard-fought victory.
Martina Trevisan’s next challenge in the quarter-finals will be unseeded American Caroline Dolehide, who advanced with a dominant 6-1, 6-2 victory over Russian eighth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Meanwhile, former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin continued her impressive resurgence by defeating sixth seed Jelena Ostapenko. Kenin, unseeded at the moment, secured her spot in the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 7-5 victory in a contest lasting 1 hour and 44 minutes.
The Moscow-born Kenin, whose ranking plummeted to 426th last year, is set to face Canada’s 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez in the next round. Fernandez earned her quarter-final berth with a 6-2, 6-3 win over unseeded American Emma Navarro.
In other matches on Wednesday, third seed Caroline Garcia of France advanced to the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 6-4 triumph over Hailey Baptiste of the United States. Garcia’s next opponent in the last eight will be the 10th seed, Victoria Azarenka, who cruised into the quarter-finals with a commanding 6-2, 6-1 victory over seventh seed Veronika Kudermetova.
Second seed Maria Sakkari of Greece also secured her place in the quarter-finals with a dominant 6-2, 6-2 victory over Italy’s Camila Giorgi. Sakkari is set to face unseeded Colombian Emiliana Arango in the next round.
By AFP
