NEW YORK (Reuters) – Second seed Sofia Kenin overcame a sluggish start to surge past Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur 7-6(4) 6-3 on Saturday to move into the fourth round of the U.S. Open for the first time.
Jabeur, ranked 31 in the world, broke to take a 4-2 lead in the opening set as Kenin struggled to control her serve, but the American immediately responded with a break of her own before grabbing the early advantage in the contest via the tiebreak.
Kenin, who swatted aside Jabeur en route to her Australian Open title and came into the clash at Louis Armstrong Stadium with a 4-1 record over her, switched gears at the start of the second set to tighten the screws on her opponent.
Playing superb tennis from the baseline, Kenin went ahead 2-0 before Jabeur broke back, but the 21-year-old raised her game once again and held firm to close out the win. She will take on Belgian Elise Mertens next.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru)
