Ons Jabeur began her Charleston Open campaign with a 6-3, 6-3 second-round win over Lesia Tsurenko on Tuesday. The second seed needed an hour and 28 minutes to wrap up the match. Jabeur won 74% of her first-serve points to the Ukrainian’s 53%.
She won 43% of her second-serve points and 70% of points on return on her opponent’s second serve. The fifth-ranked Jabeur converted eight of 13 break points she faced while dropping her serve twice across the match, once in each set.
For the match, the 28-year-old hit 13 more winners than Tsurenko’s nine.
Charleston Open: Victoria Azarenka scores one over Sloane Stephens
This is the only second win for Jabeur since she made a comeback after a knee surgery post the Australian Open.
At Indian Wells and Miami, which were her first two tournaments, she lost in the third round and second round respectively. Jabeur, who’s the defending finalist this week in Charleston, will play either Linda Fruhvirtova or Caroline Dolehide next.
Meanwhile, Victoria Azarenka also won her opening-round match. The sixth seed dropped the opening set against 2016 winner Sloane Stephens but went on to notch a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory after two hours and three minutes. Anna Kalinskaya will be Azarenka’s next opponent.
Kalinskaya survived Alize Cornet in a three-hour-10-minute long match-up eventually posting a 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-2 win. The match saw a total of 28 break points, 19 of which came on Cornet’s serve. The Frenchwoman saved 13 of these while Kalinskaya saved four of the nine break points she faced.
Lastly, continuing with the theme of upsets at the Charleston Open, two seeds crashed out in their respective first-rounds. Spain’s Cristina Bucsa defeated 16th seed Marie Bouzkova 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-1 in a match that was almost three hours long.
In an American derby, the unseeded Shelby Rogers beat 13th seed Danielle Collins, 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-1. Photo Credit: Charleston Open Twitter
