Jabeur Bags First Win Against Kvitova In Sydney

Tunisian Ons Jabeur got past Petra Kvitova 6-4 6-4 at the Sydney Tennis Classic on Wednesday for her first win against the two-times Wimbledon champion in four meetings.

World number 10 tennis star Jabeur, whose most recent defeat to Kvitova came at Cincinnati in August, fought back from a break down in both sets to prevail on Ken Rosewall Arena.

Czech Kvitova heads to next week’s Australian Open hoping to improve on her runner-up finish in 2019 and while she showed glimpses of the power game that can overwhelm opponents she was broken five times by Jabeur.

“Finally, after so many losses against her,” seventh seed Jabeur told reporters. “It’s not easy to return those powerful shots, but I’ve been prepared and I really wanted to win. So I went for it.

“I learned from my losses against her, especially the last one in Cincinnati. To be honest, I’m glad that the court wasn’t super-fast. It kind of helped me a little bit.”

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She will play against Anett Kontaveit next, who beat Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3 6-1.

In the men’s ATP 250 tournament at the same venue, Italian seventh seed Fabio Fognini lost to American Brandon Nakashima 7-6(7) 7-6(6). Former world number one Andy Murray plays Nikoloz Basilashvili later on Wednesday.

Mary Paul/Reuters