Sixth seed Jabeur suffers shock defeat
PARIS: Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur crashed out of the French Open in the first round yesterday, losing to Poland’s 56thranked Magda Linette 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5.
The 27-year-old sixth seed was seen as a potential champion in Paris, despite never having previously got past the fourth round.
Jabeur came into the event with a season-leading 17 wins on clay in 2022 and with the prestigious Madrid title under her belt.
However, she was undone yesterday by 24 unforced errors in the two hour 28-minute match.
Linette had lost to Jabeur in the third round in 2021 having stunned an injury-hit top seed Ashleigh Barty in her previous match.
Linette, a quarter-finalist on clay at
Charleston and Strasbourg this year, next faces either 2020 French Open quarter-finalist, and weekend Rabat
champion Martina Trevisan of Italy or Britain’s Harriet Dart for a spot in the last 32.
In other results, Romania’s Sorana Cirstea defeated Germany’s Tatjana Maria 6-3, 6-3 while Colombia’s Maria Camila Osorio beat France’s Harmony Tan 6-4, 6-3.
In men’s action, two-time French Open runner-up Dominic Thiem, whose ranking has slipped to 194 after a lengthy battle with a wrist injury, crashed out in the first round yesterday, losing 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to Hugo Dellien of Bolivia.
Thiem, the 2020 US Open champion, has yet to win a match in five attempts since his return in March. He has now lost 10 tour-level matches in a row. His last victory came in Rome just over a year ago.
Bulgaria’s 18th seed Grigor Dimitrov advanced with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 win over Marcos Giron of the United States.