Ons Jabeur had not been seen on a tennis court since she left the lawn of Wimbledon in tears after losing her third Grand Slam final in two years. Tuesday, for her return to competition in the second round of Cincinnati, the Tunisian showed character by winning with difficulty against the Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina (28th in the world) in three sets and 2h44 of play (6-3, 6 -7 (2), 7-6 (2)).
Led 3-0 then 5-1 in the third set, the world number 5 won five games in a row to come back to 5-5 and then take the lead at 6-5. In the tie-break, she did not miss her chance and won on her first match point after finding the serenity she had been missing since the start of the match.
Coming very close to victory by serving to win the match twice, Anhelina Kalinina will be able to regret her 13 double faults. Ons Jabeur is qualified for the round of 16 while the first round match between American Jennifer Brady and Croatian Donna Vekic, in her part of the table, has not yet taken place.
