Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Onetime prodigy rises to occasion
PARIS — Grand Slam losses by high-ranked, wellknown and accomplished players to, well, lower-ranked, lesser-known and less-accomplished opponents offer a rare opportunity for those unheralded winners to enjoy the spotlight.
And for the first time in nearly a half-century, just three of the top 10 seeds in the French Open women’s draw made it to the round of 32.
So meet Leolia Jeanjean: age 26; from Montpellier, France; ranked 227th; a wild-card entry after never before being a Slam participant; seemingly destined as a kid for great things in tennis, so much so that there were sponsorship deals before she was old enough to attend high school, until, that is, an injured knee derailed things. She left the sport for a couple of years, wound up moving to the U.S., where she played college tennis at Baylor, then Arkansas, then Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, while pursuing her studies in finance. At Lynn, she went unbeaten in singles and doubles, so it occurred to her maybe a professional career was worth a try.
Good choice for Jeanjean. Bad one for her foes so far at Roland Garros, including Karolina Pliskova, a two-time major finalist and the No. 8 seed, who was unable to offer much resistance Thursday and was beaten 6-2, 6-2 by Jeanjean in the second round on Thursday.
“Even me, I don’t have an explanation. I don’t even realize what’s happening,” Jeanjean said. “It’s my first Grand Slam. I thought I would have lost in the first round in two sets — and I found myself beating a top-10 player. So, honestly, I have nothing else to say. I don’t really know how it’s possible.”
A year ago at this time, she was ranked outside the top 800 and winning hundreds of dollars at low-level International Tennis Federation events. No matter what happens in her next match, she’ll leave Paris with at least $135,000.
“When I stopped playing when I was young, I just wanted to give myself another chance,” Jeanjean said. “because in my head, since I was good when I was like 14, 15, I’m like, ‘Why can’t I be good 10 years later?’ So that’s why, yeah, I (took a) chance. And so far it’s working.”
No. 9 Danielle Collins, the Australian Open runner-up in January, departed, too, eliminated by 50th-ranked Shelby Rogers 6-4, 6-3 in a matchup between Americans.
The previous time three or fewer top-10 women’s seeds got to the French Open’s round of 32 was in 1976; in those days, only eight players were seeded to begin with in a field of 64, half of the current tournament size.
Pliskova and Collins joined No. 2 Barbora Krejcikova — the 2021 champion who was beaten in the first round Monday, then pulled out of doubles, because she tested positive for COVID-19 — No. 4 Maria Sakkari, No. 5 Anett Kontaveit, No. 6 Ons Jabeur and No. 10 Garbine Muguruza, who all were gone by Wednesday.
The remaining trio, all in the top half of the bracket, won second-round matches Thursday: No. 1 Iga Swiatek ran her winning streak to 30 matches, the longest in women’s tennis since Serena Williams had a 34-match run in 2013, by overwhelming Alison Riske 6-0, 6-2; No. 3 Paula Badosa got past Kaja Juvan 7-5, 3-6, 6-2; No. 7 Aryna Sabalenka defeated Madison Brengle 6-1, 6-3.
In the men’s draw, all 12 of the highest seeds advanced to the third round. It’s the first time that’s happened at the French Open since 2009.
No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas, the runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Roland Garros last year, saved four set points after falling behind 6-2 in the last tiebreaker before putting away 134th-ranked qualifier Zdenek Kolar 6-3, 7-6 (8), 6-7 (3), 7-6 (6) in a 4-hour, 6-minute tussle Thursday night.