By Shrivathsa Sridhar
PARIS (Reuters) – Ons Jabeur was a woman in a hurry at the French Open on Monday, as the seventh seed eased into the Roland Garros quarter-finals for the first time with a 6-3 6-1 win over American Bernarda Pera in bright sunshine.
Jabeur’s season has steadily gathered steam in Paris after the Tunisian world number seven had minor knee surgery earlier in the year and skipped the Madrid Open due to a calf problem following her run to the Charleston crown.
The 28-year-old breezed to a 4-1 lead in the opening set even as many Court Philippe Chatrier ticket-holders were making their way past the turnstiles and closed it out in 35 minutes with her fifth break of serve.
Pera beat Jabeur in their last meeting on the hardcourts of Guangzhou in 2019 but the left-hander struggled to cope with her tricky opponent’s clay prowess and did not help her own cause with errors in her maiden last 16 appearance in a Grand Slam.
Jabeur tightened her grip on the contest by blending power, precision and guile in the next set to close out the victory in just over an hour.
The Tunisian, who is eyeing a first Grand Slam title after falling short in the Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals last year, will take on Sara Sorribes Tormo or 14th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia who face off later in the day.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Paris; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
