Challenging road ahead for Ons Jabeur at Wimbledon

LONDON: Ons Jabeur survived her biggest test yet at Wimbledon this fortnight to storm into the second week and a highly-anticipated fourth round meeting with two-time champion Petra Kvitova.

Here’s a closer look at the Tunisian’s opening week at these Championships, and how she has fared so far after making history with a historic run to the Wimbledon final last year.

Supreme serving

A positive sign that things have been going well for Jabeur at SW19 is the fact she has dropped serve just three times in 30 service games she has contested through three matches.

The world No.6 has fired a total of 17 aces in her opening three rounds – the sixth-highest tally among all 128 players at Wimbledon this fortnight – and has won 84 percent of her first-serve points, which is the second-highest success rate in the women’s field.

Experience matters

After posting two routine victories in her first two rounds – her second-round victory over Chinese qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan lasted just 45 minutes – Jabeur was pushed to her limits by 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in the third round on Saturday.

Andreescu took the first set and led by a break in the decider but Jabeur struck back before rain halted play for an hour, during which the Tunisian regrouped and received some valuable advice from her coach Issam Jellali. She broke in the ninth game of the third set to secure a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win and a place in the last 16.

“Tennis requires a lot of patience and I think this tournament especially has tested me several times already, between the rain and the tough scheduling, but thankfully I feel like I’m learning a lot,” Jabeur told Arab News after her win on Saturday.

“I’m learning to accept situations I have zero control over.