Twelve months ago, Ons Jabeur left Wimbledon vowing to return and hopefully go one better next time, having lost in the final. , she came through the first real test of her title credentials this year as she squeezed past the former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Outplayed in the first set by the former US Open champion, Jabeur levelled but Andreescu led 3-1 in the decider only to double-fault to gift the break back. A heavy downpour – and a resultant one-hour break – was key. Under the roof, Jabeur broke the Canadian’s serve in the ninth game to advance to round four.
“I’ve got to thank the rain a little bit for letting me speak to my coach and have a better perspective about the match,” Jabeur said. “I felt I didn’t play my best tennis the first two sets but Bianca’s a grand slam champion, amazing athlete and made it a very tough match today.”
For a while it was like watching one player in a mirror, Andreescu using forehand slices, angles and changes of pace. It was only when she survived a tight fifth game of the second set that Jabeur began to relax. “It was a little bit frustrating, her drop shots, her slices were kind of annoying,” she said, with a smile. “Now I know how other players feel.”
The Tunisian will need to be at her best in the fourth round when she plays Petra Kvitova, the two-time champion having beaten the Serbian qualifier Natalija Stevanovic 6-3, 7-5.
It is hard to fathom, for a player of her quality, that the Czech is through to the last 16 for only the second time since she won her second title in 2014.
Stevanovic had beaten the former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova in the first round and presented Kvitova with a real challenge, especially in the second set, through her unorthodox playing style and her forehand slice, which made life difficult.
Having won 10 straight points after a rain delay late in the second set, Kvitova missed two match points and had to fend off three break points before finally closing it out to advance.
“It was a big challenge, for sure,” Kvitova said. “She wasn’t just showing up for the third round, she really played well. She beat a seeded player [Pliskova] so I knew it would be tough and it was. I’m happy I got through. It’s been a while to be in the second week of Wimbledon so I’m very happy.”
Kvitova’s biggest problem was a loss of rhythm on her usually ultra-consistent serve at the end of the second set. In all, she hit seven double faults, but she also came up with some brave serving when necessary to get over the line. “When my serve is working, I love it even more, which I don’t think was the case today, but somehow I found a way, which I’m very happy about.”
For five years starting in 2010, Kvitova reached at least the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, winning the title in 2011 and 2014. A combination of nerves, bad luck, inspired opponents and some below-par performances have stopped her going further since but she has enjoyed a stellar year, winning on hard courts in Miami in April and then collecting her 31st career title on grass in Berlin two weeks ago.
It is six years since Kvitova returned to the Tour, ahead of schedule, after she was the victim of a horrific attack in her home in the Czech Republic in December 2016. The attack, by a man who gained entry to her apartment by posing as someone reading utility meters, left her needing an operation which lasted almost four hours to repair serious damage to her dominant left hand.
It was career-saving surgery and Kvitova duly returned within six months, an incredible comeback. Crowds all over the world have taken her to their hearts and she is a hugely popular figure at Wimbledon, where she made her name. Not that she considers herself one of the favourites, of course.
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“I don’t really care about [who is] the favourites any more,” she said. “I’m happy to be in the second week, [second] time since 2014. This is already a big achievement for me.”
The No 2 seed, Aryna Sabalenka, beat Anna Blinkova 6-2, 6-3, a match that was closer than the scoreline suggests and which lasted one hour 21 minutes. The Belarusian now plays Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia in the last 16.
Madison Keys, the American winner in Eastbourne, beat Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-1 of Ukraine while the No 13 seed, Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, reached the fourth round for the first time with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Sorana Cirstea of Romania. She will take on the defending champion, Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
