Ons Jabeur marches into quarter-finals of French Open with straight-sets win against Bernarda Pera

ByEurosport

Updated 05/06/2023 at 11:14 GMT

Seventh seed Ons Jabeur beat Bernarda Pera 6-3 6-1 to progress to the quarter-finals of the French Open. She will face the winner of Sara Sorribes Tormo and Beatriz Haddad Maia in the quarter-final stage of the clay-court Grand Slam. Jabeur’s previous best showing at Roland-Garros was round four in 2020 and 2021. Stream the French Open live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com

'Stephens was convinced it was going long!' - Sabalenka lob

Ons Jabeur was not at her best but eased past Bernarda Pera 6-3 6-1 to progress to the quarter-finals stage of the French Open.

The first set saw just one hold of serve – by Jabeur in the second game – as both players struggled to assert any dominance.

The second set was a far more straightforward affair for the seventh seed, who raced to take it 6-1 as she recovered from a break in the opening game to win the next six on the bounce.

Roland-Garros

Auger-Aliassime, De Groot and Van Assche on French Open 'dreams'

00:02:31

15/06/2023 at 17:12

She will face the winner of Sara Sorribes Tormo and Beatriz Haddad Maia next.

The win means Jabeur has now reached the quarter-finals of all four Grand Slams.

Jabeur raced into a 3-0 lead, winning on her serve and breaking Pera twice. However, it was anything but straightforward for the Tunisian after being broken three times herself.

The highlight from the first set was arguably a topsy-turvy fourth game when the world No. 7 staved off three break points before the American eventually managed to get on the board.

It was Pera’s consistency which let her down though, after failing to win the next game on her serve, as the Tunisian broke back with relative ease.

The service game quality of both players left a lot to be desired, as a fourth break in a row fell in Pera's favour in an impressive display of aggression from the American.

A superb smash reduced the arrears to 4-2, but it was Jabeur that followed up to extend her lead at the end of a pulsating rally.

After Pera broke back again, Jabeur won the first set after 36 minutes when Pera sent a forehand wide to wrap things up at 6-3.

Breaks of serves continued to be a theme of the match to start the second set as Pera won on her third break point after Jabeur could only hit a ball into the net.

Jabeur hopes she 'can serve a little better' in her upcoming quarter-final

Predictably, the American was broken again after Jabeur played a winner down the line to get three break points in the bank.

She prevailed on the second with a superb backhand shot down the line, before finally gaining a service hold to capitalise on an unforced error from Pera.

Normal service was resumed though when Jabeur's excellent cross-court winner broke Pera yet again to move 3-1 in front, and then moved 4-1 ahead on her serve.

Victory was in touching distance after Pera failed to hold another service game, before winning the seventh with relative ease to clinch a quarter-final berth.

Speaking after the match, Jabeur told Eurosport: "I was trying to put pressure on her serve, and she was returning well, so I was trying to get into the game from the beginning. The break helped, and made the match much better. I wouldn’t say easy, because it was very tough from the beginning.

"I’m so happy. It took me three times to make it to the quarter-finals here, so I’m very happy to record my best result at the French Open, and hopefully I can continue playing but let’s see what happens."

---

Stream the 2023 French Open live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com

Roland-Garros